How Do We Stop Climate Change?

The question on everyone's mind as we watch temperatures climb and weather events intensify – how do we stop climate change? Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge, but human beings have surmounted seemingly impossible difficulties before. Rather than simply hoping for the best or resigning ourselves to catastrophe, it's time to consider realistic routes to meaningful climate action.

Making Sense of the Challenge

To stop climate change, we need to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That doesn't mean the immediate and total elimination of emissions (an impossibility) but reaching "net zero" – where we're not adding more greenhouse gases than we're removing.

The math is straightforward but intimidating. In order to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, global emissions need to decrease by about 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Current commitments put us nowhere near this trajectory, suggesting we're headed for warming of 2.7°C or higher – a level of warming that would have disastrous consequences.