Thread by @JefimVogel on Thread Reader App

NEW PAPER #openaccess

To secure decent living standards for all while reducing global energy use to avert #climatebreakdown, governments need to:
↗️public services
↗️income equality
↘️extractive industries
❌economic growth in affluent countries

THREAD

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@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 1/ Averting catastrophic climate changes beyond 1.5 C global warming requires both rapid decarbonisation of energy systems AND rapid reductions in global energy use. This is now recognised at the highest levels, including the recent report by the International Energy Agency.

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 2/ By 2050, global final energy use must be as low as 27 gigajoules per person (GJ/cap) to reach the aspirations of the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C without relying on speculative negative emissions technologies, according to the IPCC (2018).

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 3/ That means current global average energy use (55 GJ/cap) needs to be cut in half, while affluent countries like the UK (81 GJ/cap) need to cut their average energy use by as much as 65%, and the most energy-hungry countries like the USA (204 GJ/cap) need to cut by almost 90%.

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 4/ A major concern is that such big energy cuts might undermine human well-being, both in affluent countries (where the largest energy cuts are needed) and in ‘poor’ countries (where billions of people currently live with precarious living standards, deprived of basic needs).

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 5/ Why care? Because decent living standards – or the satisfaction of basic human needs (here: food, water, health, sanitation, education, livelihoods) – are a prerequisite for human well-being. If basic needs go unmet, people suffer serious physical, mental or social harm.

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 6/ The point of averting climate breakdown is to avert unprecedented human (+ non-human) suffering/harm, now and in the future. This is imperative. But it's also imperative to end the enormous human suffering/harm that results from precarious living standards. We have to do both.

@JKSteinberger @DrDanONeill @lamb_wf @jasonhickel @g_kallis @GeorgeMonbiot @EricHolthaus @KevinClimate @ClimateHuman @GretaThunberg 7/ The problem is that, currently, all countries that provide decent living standards to most of the population [blue bars] use much more energy per person than what is ‘sustainable’: compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 C without speculative technologies [red line].