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Actions for reducing US emissions at least 50% by 2030

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Bistline, J., Abhyankar, N., Blanford, G., Clarke, L., Fakhry, R., McJeon, H., Reilly, J., Rodney, C., Wilson, T., Yuan, M., & Zhao, A. (2022). Actions for reducing US emissions at least 50% by 2030. Science, 376(6596), 922-924. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn0661

Abstract: Pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5° and 2°C generally involve netzero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy-wide near mid-century and halving emissions over the next decade. Updated pledges by countries and companies around the 2021 United Nations climate conference reflect this sense of urgency. The updated US pledge to reduce net emissions 50 to 52% by 2030 would represent a tripling of the pace of historical reductions (see materials and methods S3). We report on a six-model intercomparison of potential actions to reach the US target of at least 50% GHG reductions by 2030. This analysis helps identify which findings are more robust or uncertain given different model structures and input assumptions [see supplementary materials (SM)]. Models highlight the central roles of clean electricity and electrification, the large scale of deployment needed relative to historical levels and scenarios with only current policies, and a range of benefits from near-term action.


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School Authors: Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao

Other Authors: John Bistline, Maxwell Brown, Maya Domeshek, Cara Marcy, Nicholas Roy, Geoffrey Blanford, Dallas Burtraw, Jamil Farbes, Allen Fawcett, Anne Hamilton, Jesse Jenkins, Ryan Jones, Ben King, Hannah Kolus, John Larsen, Amanda Levin, Megan Mahajan, Erin Mayfield, James McFarland, Robbie Orvis, Neha Patankar, Kevin Rennert, Sally Robson, Christopher Roney, Ethan Russell, Greg Schivley, Daniel Shawhan, Daniel Steinberg, Nadejda Victor, Shelley Wenzel, John Weyant, Ryan Wiser, Mei Yuan