Social interventions for decarbonization

A study examines social tipping interventions to mitigate climate change. Carbon emissions continue to rise despite international initiatives to limit global warming. Ilona M. Otto, Jonathan F. Donges, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, and colleagues examined 207 candidates for social tipping elements (STEs), such as financial markets and societal norms, that could lead to decarbonization through rapid societal change. The authors combined data from a workshop with 17 climate change experts and a survey of 133 international climate change experts. The workshop data yielded the top 8 STEs that would mitigate carbon emissions, whereas the survey participants listed STE candidates believed to be most beneficial to decarbonization efforts and estimated their level of confidence in the ability of STE-driven changes to lead to complete decarbonization by 2050. The authors categorized the proposed STEs from both the survey and workshop into six social tipping interventions (STIs) that could trigger rapid change leading to decarbonization by 2050: building carbon-neutral cities, divesting from financial assets linked to fossil fuels, incentivizing decentralized energy and removing fossil fuel subsidies, increasing climate change education, providing information about fossil fuel emissions, and teaching moral implications of fossil fuel use. The authors estimated that the STIs can be triggered in approximately 15 years or less. The findings suggest that interactions between STIs may reinforce each other, leading to rapid decarbonization, according to the authors.

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Article #19-00577: “Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050,” by Ilona M. Otto et al.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ilona M. Otto, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, GERMANY; tel: +49-3312882667; email: <

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