Idea of the Day: Setting a Zero-Carbon Energy Target for the Largest Global Economies

March 12, 2013

PRINT:
• 
SHARE:
• 
• 
• 
• 

In the past several years, small groups of some of the world’s largest carbon polluters have joined forces to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of their overall efforts to slow the pace of dangerous global warming. These efforts include the G20 leaders’ 2009 pledge to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies; the launch of a number of efforts on clean energy cooperation through the global Clean Energy Ministerial starting in 2010; and the creation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants a year ago, which started with six nations and has now grown to 27 countries plus the European Union.

Following on these efforts, we propose that the 17 parties in the Major Economies Forum, the U.S.-led coalition of the world’s largest carbon emitters, set a target of generating 40 percent of their electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2035—what we call the “40×35” target.

For more on this topic, please see:

• 40×35: A Zero-Carbon Energy Target for the World’s Largest Economies by Andrew Light, Mari Hernandez, and Adam James