Importance of non-CO2 emissions in carbon management

Alice Bows-Larkin*, Carly McLachlan, Sarah Mander, Ruth Wood, Mirjam Röder, Patricia Thornley, Elena Dawkins, Clair Gough, Laura O'Keefe, Maria Sharmina

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: GHG budgets highlight a need for urgency, yet analyses are often CO2-focused, with less attention paid to non-CO2. Results: In this paper, scenarios are used to explore non-CO2 drivers and barriers to their mitigation, drawing out implications for CO2 management. Results suggest that even optimistic technological and consumption-related developments lead to on-going increases in global N2O, largely to improve food security within a changing climate. This contrasts with existing analysis, where lower levels of N2O by 2050 are projected. Conclusions: As avoiding '2°C' limits the emissions budget, constraints on reducing non-CO2 add pressure to energy system decarbonization. Overlooking how a changing climate and rising consumption restricts efforts to curb non-CO2 will result in policies aiming to avoid 2°C falling short of the mark.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)193-210
Number of pages18
JournalCarbon Management
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Aug 2014

Bibliographical note

© 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of
the named author(s) have been asserted.

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