This is a well written summary of the net-zero challenge. It is an honest presentation based on current data. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the net-zero timeline (as shown to be a complicated enterprise that will take decades to be realized) with developing knowledge about the current and soon to be coming impacts of global warming (the climate crisis). For example, where is the tipping point for cascade effects that will accelerate extreme weather events? Is that something already here in 2023? Or, is the tipping point far enough out so that the decades it will take to reach net-zero should be of little concern? I’ve seen graphs and articles that assert that we are beyond one tipping point already for extreme weather in the context of global warming. It has been asserted that without active ongoing reduction of CO2 already in the global atmosphere, there will be limited benefit from reaching net-zero in twenty or thirty years. There are so many complex feedback loops and possibilities for negative consequences related to a developing climate chaos that it is difficult to really be satisfied with a plodding transition away from fossil fuels as our primary energy source needed to sustain an advanced and complex global civilization of 8 or 9 billion people. What happens if what we need is urgent action, but urgency is outside of our political, economic, and scientific skill set?
This is a well written summary of the net-zero challenge. It is an honest presentation based on current data. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the net-zero timeline (as shown to be a complicated enterprise that will take decades to be realized) with developing knowledge about the current and soon to be coming impacts of global warming (the climate crisis). For example, where is the tipping point for cascade effects that will accelerate extreme weather events? Is that something already here in 2023? Or, is the tipping point far enough out so that the decades it will take to reach net-zero should be of little concern? I’ve seen graphs and articles that assert that we are beyond one tipping point already for extreme weather in the context of global warming. It has been asserted that without active ongoing reduction of CO2 already in the global atmosphere, there will be limited benefit from reaching net-zero in twenty or thirty years. There are so many complex feedback loops and possibilities for negative consequences related to a developing climate chaos that it is difficult to really be satisfied with a plodding transition away from fossil fuels as our primary energy source needed to sustain an advanced and complex global civilization of 8 or 9 billion people. What happens if what we need is urgent action, but urgency is outside of our political, economic, and scientific skill set?