IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v13y2023i12d10.1038_s41558-023-01862-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Net-zero approaches must consider Earth system impacts to achieve climate goals

Author

Listed:
  • Kirsten Zickfeld

    (Simon Fraser University)

  • Alexander J. MacIsaac

    (Simon Fraser University
    St. Francis Xavier University)

  • Josep G. Canadell

    (CSIRO Environment)

  • Sabine Fuss

    (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)
    Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

  • Robert B. Jackson

    (Stanford University)

  • Chris D. Jones

    (Met Office Hadley Centre)

  • Annalea Lohila

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute
    University of Helsinki)

  • H. Damon Matthews

    (Concordia University)

  • Glen P. Peters

    (CICERO Center for International Climate Research)

  • Joeri Rogelj

    (Imperial College London
    Imperial College London
    International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis)

  • Sönke Zaehle

    (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry)

Abstract

Commitments to net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets now cover 88% of countries’ emissions. Underlying the accounting behind net-zero frameworks is the assumption that emissions can be balanced with removals such that their net climate effect is zero. However, when considering the full climate impacts of CO2 emissions and removals, there are reasons to expect that the two are not equivalent in terms of their climate outcomes. We identify potential contributors to non-equivalence, including impermanence, biogeophysical and non-CO2 GHG effects, and argue that these non-equivalencies need to be accounted for to achieve climate goals. Given key uncertainties about the full climate impact of CO2 removal, it is prudent to prioritize emission reductions over removals.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsten Zickfeld & Alexander J. MacIsaac & Josep G. Canadell & Sabine Fuss & Robert B. Jackson & Chris D. Jones & Annalea Lohila & H. Damon Matthews & Glen P. Peters & Joeri Rogelj & Sönke Zaehle, 2023. "Net-zero approaches must consider Earth system impacts to achieve climate goals," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 13(12), pages 1298-1305, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:12:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01862-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01862-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01862-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-023-01862-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kate Dooley & Kirstine Lund Christiansen & Jens Friis Lund & Wim Carton & Alister Self, 2024. "Over-reliance on land for carbon dioxide removal in net-zero climate pledges," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:12:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01862-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.