Abstract
By signing the Paris Agreement with the aim to limit global warming to well below 2°C relative to preindustrial levels, countries have committed to kickstart the age of climate solutions. This challenge should not be underestimated: It requires turning around a 270‐year‐old trajectory of CO2 emissions growth that started with the industrial revolution (Friedlingstein et al., 2019), and racing towards net zero emissions over the next 3–5 decades (IPCC, 2018). But that is not enough. Because anthropogenic carbon emissions have already caused consequential warming of about 1°C since preindustrial times, there is a further need to reduce vulnerabilities and adapt to climate impacts that cannot be avoided (IPCC, 2014, 2018). All parts of society and the economy will need to play their parts in the transformation towards a climate‐resilient, net‐zero emissions world. It requires nothing less than transformational policies at all levels of governance from local to national and international (IPCC 2014, 2018). Climate policies for mitigation and adaptation have to become the focus in science and policy if we are to have the slightest chance of living up to this challenge.
William Lamb
Researcher
