TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bersalli, Germán
A1  - Tröndle, Tim
A1  - Lilliestam, Johan
T1  - Most industrialised countries have peaked carbon dioxide emissions during economic crises through strengthened structural change
JF  - Communications earth & environment
N2  - As the climate targets tighten and countries are impacted by several crises, understanding how and under which conditions carbon dioxide emissions peak and start declining is gaining importance. We assess the timing of emissions peaks in all major emitters (1965–2019) and the extent to which past economic crises have impacted structural drivers of emissions contributing to emission peaks. We show that in 26 of 28 countries that have peaked emissions, the peak occurred just before or during a recession through the combined effect of lower economic growth (1.5 median percentage points per year) and decreasing energy and/or carbon intensity (0.7) during and after the crisis. In peak-and-decline countries, crises have typically magnified pre-existing improvements in structural change. In non-peaking countries, economic growth was less affected, and structural change effects were weaker or increased emissions. Crises do not automatically trigger peaks but may strengthen ongoing decarbonisation trends through several mechanisms.
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - economics
KW  - environmental economics
KW  - environmental studies
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00687-8
SN  - 2662-4435
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
SP  - 44
EP  - 44
PB  - Springer Nature
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Luderer, Gunnar
A1  - Madeddu, Silvia
A1  - Merfort, Leon
A1  - Ueckerdt, Falko
A1  - Pehl, Michaja
A1  - Pietzcker, Robert C.
A1  - Rottoli, Marianna
A1  - Schreyer, Felix
A1  - Bauer, Nico
A1  - Baumstark, Lavinia
A1  - Bertram, Christoph
A1  - Dirnaichner, Alois
A1  - Humpenöder, Florian
A1  - Levesque, Antoine
A1  - Popp, Alexander
A1  - Rodrigues, Renato
A1  - Strefler, Jessica
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
T1  - Impact of declining renewable energy costs on electrification in low-emission scenarios
JF  - Nature energy
N2  - Cost degression in photovoltaics, wind-power and battery storage has been faster than previously anticipated. In the future, climate policy to limit global warming to 1.5–2 °C will make carbon-based fuels increasingly scarce and expensive. Here we show that further progress in solar- and wind-power technology along with carbon pricing to reach the Paris Climate targets could make electricity cheaper than carbon-based fuels. In combination with demand-side innovation, for instance in e-mobility and heat pumps, this is likely to induce a fundamental transformation of energy systems towards a dominance of electricity-based end uses. In a 1.5 °C scenario with limited availability of bioenergy and carbon dioxide removal, electricity could account for 66% of final energy by mid-century, three times the current levels and substantially higher than in previous climate policy scenarios assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The lower production of bioenergy in our high-electrification scenarios markedly reduces energy-related land and water requirements.
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - energy modelling
KW  - renewable energy
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00937-z
SN  - 2058-7546
N1  - Corrigendum: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01000-1
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
SP  - 32
EP  - 42
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Merfort, Leon
A1  - Bauer, Nico
A1  - Humpenöder, Florian
A1  - Klein, David
A1  - Strefler, Jessica
A1  - Popp, Alexander
A1  - Luderer, Gunnar
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
T1  - Bioenergy-induced land-use-change emissions with sectorally fragmented policies
JF  - Nature climate change
N2  - Controlling bioenergy-induced land-use-change emissions is key to exploiting bioenergy for climate change mitigation. However, the effect of different land-use and energy sector policies on specific bioenergy emissions has not been studied so far. Using the global integrated assessment model REMIND-MAgPIE, we derive a biofuel emission factor (EF) for different policy frameworks. We find that a uniform price on emissions from both sectors keeps biofuel emissions at 12 kg CO2 GJ−1. However, without land-use regulation, the EF increases substantially (64 kg CO2 GJ−1 over 80 years, 92 kg CO2 GJ−1 over 30 years). We also find that comprehensive coverage (>90%) of carbon-rich land areas worldwide is key to containing land-use emissions. Pricing emissions indirectly on the level of bioenergy consumption reduces total emissions by cutting bioenergy demand but fails to reduce the average EF. In the absence of comprehensive and timely land-use regulation, bioenergy thus may contribute less to climate change mitigation than assumed previously.
KW  - agriculture
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - energy policy
KW  - energy supply and demand
KW  - environmental economics
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01697-2
SN  - 1758-678X
SN  - 1758-6798
VL  - 13
IS  - 7
SP  - 685
EP  - 692
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Merfort, Leon
A1  - Bauer, Nico
A1  - Humpenöder, Florian
A1  - Klein, David
A1  - Strefler, Jessica
A1  - Popp, Alexander
A1  - Luderer, Gunnar
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
T1  - State of global land regulation inadequate to control biofuel land-use-change emissions
JF  - Nature climate change
N2  - Under current land-use regulation, carbon dioxide emissions from biofuel production exceed those from fossil diesel combustion. Therefore, international agreements need to ensure the effective and globally comprehensive protection of natural land before modern bioenergy can effectively contribute to achieving carbon neutrality.
KW  - agriculture
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - energy policy
KW  - energy supply and demand
KW  - environmental economics
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01711-7
SN  - 1758-678X
SN  - 1758-6798
VL  - 13
IS  - 7
SP  - 610
EP  - 612
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soergel, Bjoern
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
A1  - Weindl, Isabelle
A1  - Rauner, Sebastian
A1  - Dirnaichner, Alois
A1  - Ruhe, Constantin
A1  - Hofmann, Matthias
A1  - Bauer, Nico
A1  - Bertram, Christoph
A1  - Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon
A1  - Leimbach, Marian
A1  - Leininger, Julia
A1  - Levesque, Antoine
A1  - Luderer, Gunnar
A1  - Pehl, Michaja
A1  - Wingens, Christopher
A1  - Baumstark, Lavinia
A1  - Beier, Felicitas
A1  - Dietrich, Jan Philipp
A1  - Humpenöder, Florian
A1  - von Jeetze, Patrick
A1  - Klein, David
A1  - Koch, Johannes
A1  - Pietzcker, Robert C.
A1  - Strefler, Jessica
A1  - Lotze-Campen, Hermann
A1  - Popp, Alexander
T1  - A sustainable development pathway for climate action within the UN 2030 Agenda
JF  - Nature climate change
N2  - Ambitious climate policies, as well as economic development, education, technological progress and less resource-intensive lifestyles, are crucial elements for progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, using an integrated modelling framework covering 56 indicators or proxies across all 17 SDGs, we show that they are insufficient to reach the targets. An additional sustainable development package, including international climate finance, progressive redistribution of carbon pricing revenues, sufficient and healthy nutrition and improved access to modern energy, enables a more comprehensive sustainable development pathway. We quantify climate and SDG outcomes, showing that these interventions substantially boost progress towards many aspects of the UN Agenda 2030 and simultaneously facilitate reaching ambitious climate targets. Nonetheless, several important gaps remain; for example, with respect to the eradication of extreme poverty (180 million people remaining in 2030). These gaps can be closed by 2050 for many SDGs while also respecting the 1.5 °C target and several other planetary boundaries.
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - climate-change policy
KW  - socioeconomic scenarios
KW  - sustainability
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01098-3
SN  - 1758-678X
SN  - 1758-6798
VL  - 11
IS  - 8
SP  - 656
EP  - 664
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Strefler, Jessica
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
A1  - Bauer, Nico
A1  - Luderer, Gunnar
A1  - Pietzcker, Robert C.
A1  - Giannousakis, Anastasis
A1  - Edenhofer, Ottmar
T1  - Alternative carbon price trajectories can avoid excessive carbon removal
JF  - Nature communications
N2  - The large majority of climate change mitigation scenarios that hold warming below 2 °C show high deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR), resulting in a peak-and-decline behavior in global temperature. This is driven by the assumption of an exponentially increasing carbon price trajectory which is perceived to be economically optimal for meeting a carbon budget. However, this optimality relies on the assumption that a finite carbon budget associated with a temperature target is filled up steadily over time. The availability of net carbon removals invalidates this assumption and therefore a different carbon price trajectory should be chosen. We show how the optimal carbon price path for remaining well below 2 °C limits CDR demand and analyze requirements for constructing alternatives, which may be easier to implement in reality. We show that warming can be held at well below 2 °C at much lower long-term economic effort and lower CDR deployment and therefore lower risks if carbon prices are high enough in the beginning to ensure target compliance, but increase at a lower rate after carbon neutrality has been reached.
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - climate sciences
KW  - environmental sciences
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22211-2
SN  - 2041-1723
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - van Soest, Heleen L.
A1  - Aleluia Reis, Lara
A1  - Baptista, Luiz Bernardo
A1  - Bertram, Christoph
A1  - Després, Jacques
A1  - Drouet, Laurent
A1  - den Elzen, Michel
A1  - Fragkos, Panagiotis
A1  - Fricko, Oliver
A1  - Fujimori, Shinichiro
A1  - Grant, Neil
A1  - Harmsen, Mathijs
A1  - Iyer, Gokul
A1  - Keramidas, Kimon
A1  - Köberle, Alexandre C.
A1  - Kriegler, Elmar
A1  - Malik, Aman
A1  - Mittal, Shivika
A1  - Oshiro, Ken
A1  - Riahi, Keywan
A1  - Roelfsema, Mark
A1  - van Ruijven, Bas
A1  - Schaeffer, Roberto
A1  - Silva Herran, Diego
A1  - Tavoni, Massimo
A1  - Ünlü, Gamze
A1  - Vandyck, Toon
A1  - van Vuuren, Detlef P.
T1  - Global roll-out of comprehensive policy measures may aid in bridging emissions gap
JF  - Nature communications
N2  - Closing the emissions gap between Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the global emissions levels needed to achieve the Paris Agreement’s climate goals will require a comprehensive package of policy measures. National and sectoral policies can help fill the gap, but success stories in one country cannot be automatically replicated in other countries. They need to be adapted to the local context. Here, we develop a new Bridge scenario based on nationally relevant, short-term measures informed by interactions with country experts. These good practice policies are rolled out globally between now and 2030 and combined with carbon pricing thereafter. We implement this scenario with an ensemble of global integrated assessment models. We show that the Bridge scenario closes two-thirds of the emissions gap between NDC and 2 °C scenarios by 2030 and enables a pathway in line with the 2 °C goal when combined with the necessary long-term changes, i.e. more comprehensive pricing measures after 2030. The Bridge scenario leads to a scale-up of renewable energy (reaching 52%–88% of global electricity supply by 2050), electrification of end-uses, efficiency improvements in energy demand sectors, and enhanced afforestation and reforestation. Our analysis suggests that early action via good-practice policies is less costly than a delay in global climate cooperation.
KW  - climate-change mitigation
KW  - climate-change policy
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26595-z
N1  - Corrigendum: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27969-7
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Nature Publishing Group UK
CY  - London
ER  -