Staff Climate Notes

Sleepwalking to the Cliff Edge?: A Wake-up Call for Global Climate Action

By Simon Black, Ian W.H. Parry, Karlygash Zhunussova

October 10, 2024

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Simon Black, Ian W.H. Parry, and Karlygash Zhunussova. "Sleepwalking to the Cliff Edge?: A Wake-up Call for Global Climate Action", Staff Climate Notes 2024, 006 (2024), accessed December 14, 2024, https://0-doi-org.library.svsu.edu/10.5089/9798400289644.066

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Summary

Urgent action to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is needed now. Early next year, all countries will set new emissions targets for 2035 while revising their 2030 targets. Global GHGs must be cut by 25 and 50 percent below 2019 levels by 2030 to limit global warming to 2°C and 1.5°C respectively. But current targets would only cut emissions by 12 percent, meaning global ambition needs to be doubled to quadrupled. Further delay will lead to an ‘emissions cliff edge’, implying implausible cuts in GHGs and putting put 1.5°C beyond reach. This Note provides IMF staff’s annual assessment of global climate mitigation policy. It illustrates options for equitably aligning country targets with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals. It also provides guidance on modelling needed to set emissions targets and quantify climate mitigation policy impacts.

Subject: Carbon tax, Climate change, Climate finance, Climate policy, Environment, Fuel prices, Greenhouse gas emissions, Prices, Taxes

Keywords: Africa, Carbon pricing, Carbon tax, Climate change, Climate finance, Climate finance, Climate investment, Climate mitigation, Climate policy, Fuel prices, Global, Greenhouse gas emissions, Indonesia, Paris Agreement

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