Everyday activities can help limit warming to 1.5ºC

London, June 5: Global warming can be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius by improving the energy efficiency of our everyday activities such as travel, indoor heating and device use, according to a study.

Published in Nature Energy, study shows that dramatic improvements in the energy efficiency of everyday activities can raise living standards in the global South to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals while also remaining within the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Improved living standards for all need not come with a large increase in energy demand at the expense of the global environment, said researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis ( IIASA) in Austria.

The study is also the first ever to show how the 1.5 degrees Celsius target can be reached without relying on unproven technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage ( CCS) which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bury it.

“Our analysis shows how a range of new social, behavioural and technological innovations, combined with strong policy support for energy efficiency and low- carbon development, can help reverse the historical trajectory of ever- rising energy demand,” said Arnulf Grubler, lead author. “A rapid downsising of the global energy system between now and 2050 makes it much more feasible to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables and electricity to provide for development needs while limiting the impacts of climate change,” said Charlie Wilson from IIASA and University of East Anglia, UK.

Team examined innovations at the fringes of current markets that could help reduce emissions if they became mainstream. Drawing on detailed studies of energy used in transport, in homes and offices, and in the manufacture of consumer goods, they found evidence of two- to four- fold reductions in the amount of energy required to move people and goods around, to provide comfort in buildings, and to meet the material needs of growing populations, particularly in the global South. They identified a number of key innovations, for example, shared and ‘ on- demand’ fleets of more energy efficient electric vehicles with increased occupancy can reduce global energy demand for transport by 60 per cent by 2050 while reducing the number of vehicles on the road. Single digital devices such as smartphones serving a wide range of functions combined with younger generations’ preferences for accessing services instead of owning goods can limit the otherwise explosive growth in global energy demand to a mere 15 per cent by 2050.