Global Pace Of Climate Change Remains Double That Of Paris Agreement Target, Claims Schroders

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The current pace of global climate change remains double that of the international targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement due to a lack and speed of global action to limit its impact, according to Schroders Climate Progress Dashboard.

Global asset manager Schroders announced the news this week a year after it first launched its Climate Progress Dashboard which was designed to provide investors with “a unique insight” into the global progress being made towards limiting global warming to 2°C as set out in the Paris Agreement, and the overall progress of the global transition to a low-carbon economy. The Dashboard identifies the long-term temperature increase the world is currently on track towards based on a range of indicators which span politics, business, technological progress, and energy.

Currently, according to Schroders Dashboard, planet Earth is on track for a global temperature increase of 4°C above pre-industrial levels, virtually unchanged since the Dashboard was first launched.

“When we launched the Climate Progress Dashboard a year ago, it pointed to a 4.1°C temperature rise,” explained Andrew Howard, Head of Sustainable Research, Schroders. “Since then, it has fallen slightly to 4°C.

“Indicators are moving in the right direction, and there are reasons for optimism looking at individual values, but it is also clear that far faster action is needed and far more disruption lies ahead,” Howard added. “We believe the outlook is a little more positive than the headline temperature rise suggests. In particular, the growing use of electric vehicles and clean energy technologies underline the falling reliance on politicians to drive climate action, which should ultimately be a major positive.”

While a 4°C temperature increase is double that of the global consensus enshrined in the Paris Agreement, Schroders nevertheless found small solace in the fact that carbon prices on the world’s largest exchange in Europe have more than doubled since the middle of 2017 thanks to the reforms made to the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Further, China has also announced it will roll-out a nation-wide carbon-trading scheme which will establish a price for close on a quarter of the world’s emissions.

As Andrew Howard hinted at, Schroders is similarly encouraged by the growth in electric vehicle sales around the world and the attendant rapid cost declines which have increased production. Conversely, however, Schroders earlier this year highlighted a global slowdown in investments for clean energy technologies — though this might shift when Schroders accounts for more-recent clean energy investment figures, such as those published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance earlier this month.


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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