What is carbon neutrality and how should we respond to this policy?
By 7PlusJuly 2nd, 2021
With the European Climate Law, the EU committing to carbon neutrality by 2050. What does that mean in practice?
Climate change is already affecting the entire world, with extreme weather conditions such as drought, heat waves, heavy rain, floods and landslides becoming more frequent, including in Europe. Other consequences of the rapidly changing climate include rising sea levels, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity.
In order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – a threshold the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) suggests is safe – carbon neutralityby mid-21st century is essential. This target is also laid down in the Paris agreement signed by 195 countries, including the EU.
In December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, its flagship plan that aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. This target will be reached through the European Climate Law that sets climate neutrality into binding EU legislation.
What is carbon neutrality?
Carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere incarbon sinks. Removing carbon oxide from the atmosphere and then storing it is known as carbon sequestration. In order to achieve net zero emissions, all worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will have to be counterbalanced by carbon sequestration.
Carbon sink is any system that absorbs more carbon than it emits. The main natural carbon sinks are soil, forests and oceans. According to estimates, natural sinks remove between 9.5 and 11 Gt of CO2 per year.
To date, no artificial carbon sinks are able to remove carbon from the atmosphere on the necessary scale to fight global warming.
The carbon stored in natural sinks such as forests is released into the atmosphere through forest fires, changes in land use or logging. This is why it is essential to reduce carbon emissions in order to reach climate neutrality.
How should we respond to this policy?
Realistically, shifting the world onto a track to be net-zero by 2050 would require a series of feats in the political, business, technological and social spheres. It is "a huge challenge" to push those goals from the realm of possibility into reality.
While many of the recommendations in the report would need major changes in infrastructure and industry, regular people also play an important role.
"The changes will affect multiple aspects of people's lives — from transport, heating and cooking to urban planning and jobs," the report states. "We estimate that around 55% of the cumulative emissions reductions in the pathway are linked to consumer choices such as purchasing an Electric Scooter/Electric Citycoco, retrofitting a house with energy-efficient technologies or installing a heat pump."
People in advanced, carbon-hungry economies could also bring around 4% of the overall emissions reductions in the roadmap if they change some of their habits, such as walking, use electric motorcycle or taking public transit rather than driving, according to the report.
According to the current trend, the electric scooter will be the popular trend for the next few decades.It will be used by more people, and it will be a great tool for people to respond to carbon neutral policies.
