Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven't We Bent the Global Emissions Curve?
Review article, 2021
Despite three decades of political efforts and a wealth of research on the causes and catastrophic impacts of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise and are 60% higher today than they were in 1990. Exploring this rise through nine thematic lenses-covering issues of climate governance, the fossil fuel industry, geopolitics, economics, mitigation modeling, energy systems, inequity, lifestyles, and social imaginaries-draws out multifaceted reasons for our collective failure to bend the global emissions curve. However, a common thread that emerges across the reviewed literature is the central role of power, manifest in many forms, from a dogmatic political-economic hegemony and influential vested interests to narrow techno-economic mindsets and ideologies of control. Synthesizing the various impediments to mitigation reveals how delivering on the commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement now requires an urgent and unprecedented transformation away from today's carbon- and energy-intensive development paradigm.
energy transitions
climate mitigation
power
lock-ins
societal transformations
knowledge traditions
Author
Isak Stoddard
Uppsala University
Kevin Anderson
Uppsala University
University of Manchester
Stuart Capstick
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
Wim Carton
Lund University
Joanna Depledge
Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance
Keri Facer
Uppsala University
University of Bristol
Clair Gough
University of Manchester
Frederic Hache
Green Finance Observatory
Claire Hoolohan
University of Manchester
College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
Martin Hultman
Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Science, Technology and Society
Niclas Hällström
What Next?
Sivan Kartha
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
Sonja Klinsky
Arizona State University
Magdalena Kuchler
Uppsala University
Eva Lövbrand
Linköping University
Naghmeh Nasiritousi
Stockholm University
Swedish Institute of International Affairs
Peter Newell
University of Sussex
Glen P. Peters
Cicero Senter for klimaforskning
Youba Sokona
The South Centre
Andy Stirling
University of Sussex
Matthew Stilwell
Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development
Clive L. Spash
Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien
Mariama Williams
The South Centre
Annual Review of Environment and Resources
1543-5938 (ISSN) 1545-2050 (eISSN)
Vol. 46 653-689Driving Forces
Sustainable development
Subject Categories
Economic History
Globalization Studies
Energy Systems
DOI
10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104