The year 2050 marks a landmark horizon. First, this Government’s major ‘city deals’ will have come to fruition; they have a return on investment within 30 years. And secondly, the Paris 2015 Agreement looks to 2050.
At the Paris COP21 in 2015, nations agreed that the EU would have net-zero emissions by 2030, and there would be net-zero emissions globally by 2050.
But this last December, the US signalled its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement at COP22, held in Marrakesh.
Here’s why it all matters to the food sector:
- IPCC data indicates less than 2 degrees warming is unlikely by 2010; see this Nature article of July 2017. In 2014, the IPCC and UNEP said that zero emissions were needed by 2070 to prevent global catastrophe.
- Agriculture, forestry and other land use is responsible for 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions; see this US EPA report, 2017.
In reality, neither the 2030 nor the 2050 Paris COP21 targets look likely to be hit.
As illustration of this:
- To date, only six countries (France, Benin, Us (yes, the US), Mexico, Germany and Canada) have submitted their long term strategies to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as agreed in Paris in 2015.