The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations The objective of the IPCC is to provide governments with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC reports provide summaries of what is known to date about the drivers, impacts and risks associated with climate change, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks. Unfortunately, these reports are written in a highly technical style appropriate for specialists and are not an easy read for the rest of us. In other words, the IPCC reports can be a real slog to get through. The IPCC really should release parallel reports for the layperson. In lieu of that, I will occasionally post bits and pieces of reports that I’ve found especially interesting or useful.
This is the second in a series of posts based on the 2018 IPCC report, “Mitigation pathways compatible with 1.5°C in the context of sustainable development” - specifically, a multi-page table listing 70 measures that have been represented in the mitigation pathway literature. This post covers decarbonisation measures, starting with a few definitions*:
Mitigation pathway: a series of actions over time. Climate change mitigation pathways are a series of measures taken to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions or to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Decarbonisation: Per the IPCC glossary, decarbonisation (British spelling) aims to achieve “zero fossil carbon existence” and typically refers to a reduction of the carbon emissions associated with electricity, industry and transport.
Solar PV (Solar Photovoltaic):: A technology that converts solar radiation (sunlight) into direct current electricity using semiconducting materials.
Solar CSP (Concentrated Solar Power): A technology that generates electricity by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a receiver.
Biomass co-firing: A process that involves adding biomass as a partial substitute fuel in high efficiency coal boilers.
Methanisation: A process that transforms organic matter into a biogas that can be used to produce fuel for vehicles (among other uses).
CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage): The process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from sources, such as coal and gas-fired power, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally underground.
Ocean energy: The ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun’s heat, and mechanical energy from the tides and waves. Both types can be used to generate electricity.
And here are 18 decarbonisation measures:
Source: Table 2.SM.6 (Section)/2018: Mitigation Pathways Compatible with 1.5°C in the Context of Sustainable Development Supplementary Material. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15 Accessed February 8, 2020
Note that I’m not endorsing some measures over others. None of the above measures are mature technologies (meaning their path to optimality remains strewn with knowledge gaps) and none should be excluded from consideration. As energy systems engineer and Princeton professor Jesse Jenkins put it:
“If we’re really in a ‘climate crisis,’ then you go to war with your full arsenal, you don’t hold anything back. And you don’t purposefully make this crisis harder by limiting our already limited options.”
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*See the IPCC glossary for additional definitions and explanations.
References:
Forster, P., D. Huppmann, E. Kriegler, L. Mundaca, C. Smith, J. Rogelj, and R. Seferian, 2018: Mitigation Pathways Compatible with 1.5°C in the Context of Sustainable Development Supplementary Material. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Portner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Pean, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. Available from https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15
Lawrence, J. and M. Haasnoot (2017). "What it took to catalyse uptake of dynamic adaptive pathways planning to address climate change uncertainty." Environmental Science & Policy 68: 47-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.12.003
Rogelj, J., D. Shindell, K. Jiang, S. Fifita, P. Forster, V. Ginzburg, C. Handa, H. Kheshgi, S. Kobayashi, E. Kriegler, L. Mundaca, R. Séférian, and M.V. Vilariño, 2018: Mitigation Pathways Compatible with 1.5°C in the Context of Sustainable Development. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-2/