What Else Can Net Zero Do For Us?
What Else Can Net Zero Do For Us?
Decarbonization could deliver sustainability benefits beyond mitigating climate change – but only if we take an integrated approach to balance overlapping, sometimes conflicting, goals
Published 02-16-21
The tiny city cowers in the shadow of an enormous tidal wave labelled “COVID-19”. Looming behind is a series of progressively larger tsunamis: “Recession”, “Climate change” and, finally, filling half the frame, “Biodiversity collapse”. This much-copied image by Canadian cartoonist Graeme MacKay is a potent reminder that however bad our immediate troubles are, there is worse to come. And that even if we do manage to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 – and therefore hold climate change to 1.5°C – this is not the only crisis we need to avert.