Blog Posts: emissions

At WRI, where advancing sustainable development is our purpose, love isn’t often expressed orally or in writing, but everyone showed it in action. Our hearts are dedicated to serving Indonesia in its war against the climate crisis - despite knowing we may fail. Because it is still better to have loved the Earth and lost this war, than to never love it at all.

While we practice social distancing and help those most affected by the pandemic, we also need to think about what comes after. How do we prevent future crises from ravaging our lives?

To understand Indonesia's climate prognosis, look at the sectors and provinces where emissions originate.

Carbon offsetting is a simple idea: for every amount of carbon emission you release, you pay to absorb that emission or prevent it from being released in the future in some other form through methods, such as planting trees or landfill methane capture.

Scientists say that global emissions must reach net-zero by mid-century to avoid the worst climate disasters. While G20 countries produce 75 percent of world's emissions, only a small handful have a plan for reducing them between now and 2050.

If tropical deforestation were a country, it would rank third in global emissions behind China and the United States. Tree cover loss is on the rise, but channeling climate mitigation finance towards forests could change the course of the world's climate.

New research from the world's leading climate scientists finds that annual emissions will need to be roughly half what they are today by 2030 in order to limit temperature rise to 1.5˚C. Exceeding this level of warming will bring climate impacts so catastrophic the world will be unrecognizable.

Most climate change solutions focus on mitigation—ways to slash emissions as quickly as possible, such as by adopting renewable energy. But research shows these aren't enough. To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, the world will need to reach net-negative emissions, a point at which we're actually removing more carbon from the air than we're putting in.

New research from WRI and others shows that stopping deforestation, restoring forests and improving forestry practices could cost-effectively remove 7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or as much as eliminating 1.5 billion cars.

The devastating effects of sea level rise and extreme weather events have the potential to result in migration, humanitarian crises and international conflict. By collaborating on mitigation actions now, as a new report suggests, member nations of ASEAN can address these threats.