A new analysis released today at the G7 summit provides a ‘bread and butter’ overview of how national climate action plans will benefit everyday citizens in terms of better jobs, longer lives and a cleaner atmosphere.
The report was issued hours before G7 leaders announced 2050 targets which would lower GHG emissions between 40% and 70% from 2010 levels.
“Today, for the first time ever, G7 leaders have rallied behind a long-term goal to decarbonise the global economy,” Jennifer Morgan, director of the global climate program at the World Resources Institute, said in a Financial Times article. “This long-term de-carbonization goal will make evident to corporations and financial markets that the most lucrative investments will stem from low-carbon technologies.”
According to a New Climate press release issued this morning, “If all these governments had presented plans in line with 100% renewables by 2050, the additional benefits of their collective actions would add up to 1.2 million lives saved per year, more than 2 million jobs created, and $514 billion saved.”
The New Climate Institute report, Assessing the missed benefits of countries’ national contributions, explores and contrasts climate commitments from Canada, Japan, Europe, the US and China with an eye towards examining how they fall short of the opportunity to make dramatic changes in the quality of life for future generations. The Climate Action plans of Japan and Canada are singled out for submitting the least ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
The report notes, however, that the proposals cumulatively “move the world closer to a trajectory which would keep global warming well within the danger threshold of 2degC – and even the 1.5degC advocated by many of the world’s most vulnerable nations.”
The climate action plans by the five major economies assessed in the new report – Japan, Canada, EU, US and China – will collectively save 115,000 lives a year, put USD41 billion back in the coffers annually, and create 1 million jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2030.
The illustrations below depict how by 2030, the current United States’ INDCs will create 470,000 new jobs while saving 7,000 lives by dramatically reducing air pollution.
But if the US plan had aimed higher, with a goal of converting to a 100% renewably powered economy, by 2030 the number of new jobs would jump to 650,000, 27,000 lives would be saved each year, and nation’s coffers would increase by $160 billion due to costs saved not importing fossil fuels.
A more ambitious plan creates 180,000 new jobs in the next ten years, saving some 20,000 more lives annually. means the difference between current US plans and a more ambitious approach is about
“The consideration of the multiple benefits of climate action can significantly influence the ambition level of national governments when formulating their national plans as it links directly to the needs of the people,” says NewClimate Institute’s Niklas Höhne, author of the study.
Life In A 2 Degree C World
Tables from WRI on LDCs
