Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Key threshold for electricity emissions

To reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the short term, and catalyse longer-term cuts, countries should reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation to below a universal target of 600 tCO2e GWh−1 by 2020.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Carbon intensity of electricity generation.

References

  1. Millennium Development Goals (United Nations Development Program); http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview

  2. Jolly, R. Global Goals — the UN experience (United Nations Development Programme; 2003); http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2003_jolly.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  3. Indicators for Monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2003); http://go.nature.com/OkZMjl

  4. Lessons Learned from MDG Monitoring From a Statistical perspective (United Nations, 2013); http://go.nature.com/qz99QR

  5. Langford, M., Sumner, A. & Yamin, A. E. The Millenium Development Goals and Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Fukuda-Parr, S. & Yamin, A. E. Development 56, 58–65 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Milestones on the Road to 2012: The Cancun Agreements (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change); http://unfccc.int/key_steps/cancun_agreements/items/6132.php

  8. International Energy Agency Statistics (IEA, accessed 3 October 2014); http://www.iea.org/statistics/statisticssearch

  9. Liddle, B. & Lung, S. Glob. Environ. Change 24, 42–51 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Energy Technology Perspectives 2014: Harnessing Electricity's Potential (IEA, 2014). http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/ETP2014SUM.pdf

  11. Kennedy, C. A., Ibrahim, N. & Hoornweg, D. Nature Clim. Change 4, 343–346 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion: Highlights 2013 Edition (IEA, 2013); http://go.nature.com/9DPilY

  13. Oliver, J. G. J. et al. Trends in Global CO2 Emissions: 2013 Report (PBL Netherland Environmental Assessment Agency, 2013); http://go.nature.com/p7igNy

    Google Scholar 

  14. Chen, Q., Kang, C., Xia, Q. & Guan, D. Energy 36, 1500–1512 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fact Sheet: Clean Power Plan State Roles (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2014); http://go.nature.com/xai5JZ

  16. Jacobson, M Z. & Delucchi. M. A. Energy Policy 39, 1154–1169 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kennedy, C. A. & Corfee-Morlot, J. Energy Policy 59, 773–783 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for reviews by Daniel Hoornweg and Jan Corfee-Morlot.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Kennedy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kennedy, C. Key threshold for electricity emissions. Nature Clim Change 5, 179–181 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2494

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2494

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing