NATURE: Debating the bedrock of climate-change mitigation scenarios

Description

KEVIN ANDERSON: Wrong tool for the job

The Paris agreement on climate change aims to limit the global temperature rise in this century to 1.5–2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Science makes clear that the total quantity of emitted carbon dioxide correlates closely with such a rise¹. The problem is that delivering on the 1.5–2 °C commitment demands emissions cuts for wealthy nations of more than 10% each year^2,3, far beyond rates typically considered possible in the current economic system. It is in seeming to remedy this impasse that IAMs have an important and dangerous role...