New Delhi (Agency): A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal reveals that the pursuit of “green growth” in high-income countries is inadequate to achieve the emission reductions necessary to fulfill the climate targets and fairness principles established by the Paris Agreement. Even in cases where carbon emissions have been “decoupled” from gross domestic product (GDP) growth in certain high-income countries, the average time required to approach zero emissions is projected to exceed 200 years.
The research assessed 11 high-income countries that have managed to achieve “absolute decoupling” of CO2 emissions from economic growth between 2013 and 2019. These countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. Despite this decoupling, the study demonstrates that these countries’ emission reductions are far from sufficient to align with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals.
The study reveals that if current trends persist, these high-income countries would collectively surpass their fair share of the global carbon budget required to prevent catastrophic warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, a threshold mandated by the Paris Agreement. The research argues that the pursuit of economic growth in such countries contradicts the internationally agreed-upon climate targets. Instead, it advocates for a transformative approach to climate policy centered on concepts of sufficiency, fairness, and well-being.
Lead author of the study, Jefim Vogel from the University of Leeds, UK, emphasizes that economic growth in high-income countries labeled as “green” is misleading and counterproductive in the context of climate goals. The study underscores that the pursuit of economic growth in these countries conflicts with the twin objectives of averting climate breakdown and ensuring fairness for lower-income nations.
The researchers find that even countries achieving decoupling have not achieved emission reductions at a pace that aligns with the Paris Agreement. Reduction rates of 30% per year are needed by 2025 for countries to comply with their fair share of the global carbon budget for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In contrast, the average emission reductions among the examined high-income countries between 2013 and 2019 were only 1.6% per year.
The study emphasizes the considerable gap between achieved emission reductions and those required by the Paris Agreement, highlighting the need for urgent and transformative climate policies.
