Planning for a Just Energy Transition: If Not Now, When?

This year saw the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 6th comprehensive assessment of climate change, including the third and final section, published in April 2022, outlining the urgency of transitioning to a zero carbon society (IPCC, [6]). With understatement, the IPCC review highlights the challenge of overcoming the I implementation gap i between agreed greenhouse gas emission targets and projected higher global emissions. However, rather than a rapid acceleration of mitigation, the IPCC assessment notes that projected cumulative future CO SB 2 sb emissions over the lifetime of existing and currently planned fossil fuel infrastructure, without additional abatement, will exceed the total cumulative net CO SB 2 sb emissions that limit warming to 1.5 °C. As highlighted by the IPCC review, cities and urban areas offer significant opportunities for emissions reductions, through lower energy consumption (such as by creating compact, walkable cities), electrification of transport in combination with low-emission energy sources, and enhanced carbon uptake and storage using nature. [Extracted from the article]