This page lists detailed plans of action for tackling global warming and other environmental problems. For some we have links to summaries and critiques of these plans. Later we will write comparisons of these plans, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement. The ultimate goal is to develop a plan of our own, Plan C.
See also Reports. Roughly speaking, ‘reports’ analyze problems while ‘plans of action’ suggest solutions. However, the borderline is a bit fuzzy.
These are action plans the Azimuth Project currently considers to be the highest priorities:
If you want to help, focus on these!
National Academy of Sciences?, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda, 2019.
International Energy Agency, Energy Technology Perspectives: Strategies and Scenarios to 2050.
World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Century Outlook. Summary and critique available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Kornelis Blok, Niklas Höhne, Kees van der Leun and Nicholas Harrison, Bridging the greenhouse-gas emissions gap, Nature Climate Change 2 (2012), 471-474. See also supplementary materials and this presentation. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Mark Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, A path to sustainable energy: how to get all energy from wind, water and solar power by 2030. Summary and critique available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow, Stabilization wedges: solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies. Summary and critique available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Joe Romm, How the world can (and will) stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm: The full global warming solution. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Redefining What’s Possible for Clean Energy by 2020, Gigaton Throwdown Initiative, 2009. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Joseph E. Aldy et al., Beyond Kyoto: Advancing the International Effort Against Climate Change, 2003. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Joseph E. Aldy, Peter R. Orszag and Joseph E. Stiglitz, Climate Change: An Agenda For Global Collective Action, 2001. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2010. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
T.M.L. Wigley, R. Richels, and J.A. Edmonds, Economic and environmental choices in the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations, Nature 379 (1996), 240-243.
Malte Meinshausen, Nicolai Meinshausen, William Hare, Sarah C. B. Raper, Katja Frieler, Reto Knutti, David J. Frame & Myles R. Allen, Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 °C, Nature Letters 458 (April 2009), 1158–1163.
Lester Brown, Plan B, Earth Policy Institute. (This comes in several versions.)
Lester Brown, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Economic and Environmental Collapse, Earth Policy Institute, 2010.
The Third Nobel Laureate Symposium, The Stockholm Memorandum, 2011. Available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
European Union: Roadmap 2050 issued by the European Climate Foundation, downloads available here
UK: Zero carbon Britain 2030. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
Scotland: A Low Carbon Economic Strategy for Scotland: Scotland - A Low Carbon Society, November 2011. Summary available here on the Azimuth Wiki.
USA: The Union of Concerned Scientists, Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy, 2009.
USA: Cool the Earth, Save the Economy: Solving the Climate Crisis is EASY, by John and Mary Ellen Harte, UC Berkeley, 2008.
McKinsey and Company, Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy, 2009.
In this report, McKinsey & Company offers a detailed analysis of the magnitude of the efficiency potential in non-transportation uses of energy, a thorough assessment of the barriers that impede the capture of greater efficiency, and an outline of the practical solutions available to unlock the potential.
The research shows that the U.S. economy has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption by roughly 23 percent by 2020, eliminating more than $1.2 trillion in waste – well beyond the $520 billion upfront investment (not including program costs) that would be required. The reduction in energy use would also result in the abatement of 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.
Such energy savings will be possible, however, only if the United States can overcome significant sets of barriers. These barriers are widespread and persistent, and will require an integrated set of solutions to overcome them – including information and education, incentives and financing, codes and standards, and deployment resources well beyond current levels.
McKinsey and Company, Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?, 2007.
McKinsey and Company, Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy, 2009.
The 21 October 2010 edition of Nature has a section on cities and sustainability.
The World Mayors Council on Climate Change is an alliance of committed local government leaders advocating an enhanced recognition and involvement of Mayors in multilateral efforts addressing climate change and related issues of global sustainability.
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group connects more than 75 of the world’s greatest cities, representing 550+ million people and one quarter of the global economy.
Copenhagen: In CPH 2025, Copenhagen aims to become carbon-neutral by 2025.
Chicago: The Chicago Climate Action Plan aims to reduce carbon emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2030.
New York: The New York City Carbon Challenge - During Climate Week 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio committed to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80% below 2005 levels by 2050, becoming the largest city at this time to commit to an “80 by 50” goal.
Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Climate Change Strategy 2007
The Bristol Food Network is a project to build a sustainable food system in Bristol, UK.
Birmingham (UK): Birmingham is one of the largest local authorities in Europe. It is a European centre of excellence in climate change planning.
Masdar City, a planned city in Abu Dhabi.
Dongtan, a planned city in China. See Dongtan, Wikipedia.
Sustainable cities, a website devoted to this subject.
While we stress that it is quite certain we need to do something quickly, if we are to avoid environmental problems that threaten the survival of humanity, we recognize that much of the debate about adopting a plan of action centers on questions discussed in the topic - Uncertainty in climate science. We feel it is essential for questions to be aired and addressed by both the public and scientists, so the understanding of what is needed may be advanced. It is also important for people to be mindful that scientists speak about uncertainty quite differently from the general public. While the climate community is agreed that aggressive action is needed to stave off disasters, there is no general consensus about how much good various plans of action might do. So the future remains uncertain.
Action is a ‘category’ on the Azimuth Wiki. We have tried to list all Azimuth Wiki pages in this category here. However, the full list is here.