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Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to take steps
to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and
preferably to 1.5C, compared with pre-industrial levels.
But time is running out and scientists warn that society needs
rapid and unprecedented change to curb global warming and avoid
catastrophic climate change.
"Governments and companies need to be thinking about what the
scientists are telling us. COVID-19 teaches us that," Sean
Kidney, chief executive of Climate Bonds Initiative, said.
In the United States, the incoming administration includes a
"strong team" of leaders, including former Secretary of State
John Kerry as climate czar, to help advance new technology and
reduce carbon emissions, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center
for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said.
But it will also be important for businesses and local leaders
to support the shift to clean energy, Sachs said.
And people need to be informed on the approaches, such as wind
power and solar power, that are gaining traction in their area
and understand how they can help, he added.
"People know across the country that we need to do this, but
what they need to see now is local plans," Sachs said.
Some companies have set their own targets for net zero carbon
emissions, but they differ in terms of what is included making
it hard for investors to measure progress.
"Setting a 2050 net zero target is easy for a chief executive to
do when they know they will be gone by the time it becomes clear
whether or not the company has met that target," Nick Stansbury,
head of climate solutions at Legal & General Investment
Management, said.
"It is key that near returns are demonstrably aligned with net
zero targets with well-costed plans on how to get them and clear
measures so we can track progress in the near term."
CARBON PRICE
Europe's top oil and gas companies, which account for roughly 7%
of global crude consumption, have committed to targets that vary
in scope and detail.
Shell last year set a next zero emission target by 2050 or
sooner. It previously had long-term intensity based targets,
rather than goals based on absolute emissions cuts.
"A big change over the last few years is (factoring) the risk of
the broader carbon footprint of companies," said David Hone,
chief climate change advisor at the Anglo-Dutch company.
"When you fill a car with petrol (from a Shell garage) they are
Shell emissions and that is included in our footprint."
Shell aims to cut the carbon emission footprint from the energy
products its sells, an intensity-based measure, by around 65% by
2050, and by around 30% by 2035.
At least $1 trillion a year of capital was needed to finance the
low-carbon transition and the most powerful tool to enable that
was a clear and science-based price on carbon and all greenhouse
gas emissions, Kidney said.
Although that has been hard to achieve at a global level,
regional carbon markets can play a role in incentivising
companies to invest in low or zero carbon technologies and move
away from fossil fuels.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney and Susanna Twidale; Additional
reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Alex Richardson and
Alexander Smith)
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