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Key threshold for electricity emissions

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 179–181 (2015)Cite this article

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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.

When faced with critical global challenges affecting the wellbeing of human society, the nations of the world come together to pursue concrete, measurable, evidence-based goals. Examples include the Millennium Development Goals1, economic measures for growth or stimulus, and targets for environmental protection. Many numerically expressed global goals have been achieved or partially achieved, while others unfortunately have failed2. Key requirements for successfully achieving global goals, expressed in United Nations documents, include the use of robust, relevant measures that are broadly consistent with other global agreements and based on international standards, with well-established data sources3. Furthermore, numerical targets should be: ambitious but achievable; quantifiable and time bound; and set in consultation with country teams4. Others have pointed to the importance of additional needs: articulating visions in terms of inspiring goals; breaking down goals into time-bound, doable propositions; using targets that are universally applicable to all countries, and that can be disaggregated into component measures2,5,6.

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Figure 1: Carbon intensity of electricity generation.

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Acknowledgements

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

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  1. Christopher Kennedy is in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, 35 St George Street, Toronto, Ontario M4J 3K1, Canada,

    Christopher Kennedy

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Correspondence to Christopher Kennedy.

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

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