Climate change is one of the big political challenges of our time. It has been on the political agenda for some 30 years, in an increasing number of countries. With the Paris agreement, almost all countries in the world have committed themselves to contributing theirs share to limiting the global temperature to well below 2 degrees, implying a commitment to a fully carbon-neutral global economy by mid-century. This is a huge chalennge - economically and technilogically, for sure, but especially also societally and politically. In terms of emission reductions, of emission reductions, one cannot say that is has gone well: globally, GHG emissions are still increasing. To the largest extent, this is caused by economic growth and industrial development in emerging countries, causing a hunger for energy that is often fed with fossil fuel energy, including oil for thr growing transport systems and coal or gas power for the power grids. In the industrialised world, however, emission generally decrease. In Europe, for example, GHG emmissions have decreased by some 20% compared to 1990, and the European Union may meet its 2020 climate target. Evidently, it is possible to bend the emmission curve. In particular in the energy sector - responsible for some 2/3 of global greenhouse gas emissions - starts seeing radical changes, both through rise of renewable energy technologies and efficiency measures. In Europe, at least some policy efforts appear to have worked: emissions and energy demands are decreasing, and European (together with a handful of other countries) policies have contributed to making renewables technologically and aconomically viable, putting Europe and all other countries in a position, where complete energy system decarbonisation may be feasible. --- see the whole text on PULS! Schließen

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