What roles for markets and for the state when climate risk is existential?
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
The climate policymaking orthodoxy is that markets can efficiently price and mitigate climate risks, but this blog argues that when risks are existential — that is, a permanent and drastic curtailing of human civilisation’s future development — then the damages are beyond calculation.
Zero by 2050 or 2030? 1.5°C or 2°C? Overshoot or not? Demystifying carbon budgets.
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
The Breakthough Briefing Note on "Carbon budgets for 1.5 & 2°C", released March 2, explores some of the myths and realities about the Paris Agreement targets and the associated carbon budgets, and what it would really take to achieve them.
New research on forests and oceans suggest projections of future warming may be too conservative, with serious consequences
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
How much will the world warm with ongoing fossil-fuel carbon emissions? It’s a big question that preoccupies policymakers and activists, with important discussions about when the world will hit two degrees, are we really on a path to four degrees of warming with current Paris commitments, and so on.
Net-zero emissions by 2050: Leadership or climate colonialism?
By Ian Dunlop, David Spratt, Climate Code Red
In Lewis Carroll's words: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." But we do know: it is net-zero emissions by 2030, not 2050.
What must climate and energy policy really achieve? It’s time for a …Climate Reality Check 2020
By Ian Dunlop, David Spratt, Climate Code Red
The Australian Government is dangerously out-of-touch as climate change accelerates and a cascade of tipping points risks unstoppable global warming.
Are Worst-Case Climate Scenarios Less Likely, as Media Reports of a New Scientific Paper Suggest?
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
Reading the media reporting of a new scientific paper released on 22 July, it was easy to get the impression that some “worse-case” climate warming possibilities are now off the agenda. “So this is good news?” a friend emailed. “No” was my answer.
As Warming Approaches 1.5°C, Talk of a Carbon Budget for the Paris Targets is Delusional
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
There's a lot of delusional talk about how much "carbon budget" (or new emissions) are allowable that would still keep global heating to the Paris target of 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C).
Covid-19 Climate Lessons
By David Spratt, Climate Code Red
Climate change will increase the geographic range of infectious diseases and air pollution increases susceptibility to respiratory illness. The pandemic emergency teaches us valuable lessons about how to respond to the climate emergency