Implications of possible interpretations of 'greenhouse gas balance' in the Paris Agreement.

ABSTRACT: The main goal of the Paris Agreement as stated in Article 2 is 'holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C'. Article 4 points to this long-term goal and the need to achieve 'balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases'. This statement on 'greenhouse gas balance' is subject to interpretation, and clarifications are needed to make it operational for national and international climate policies. We study possible interpretations from a scientific perspective and analyse their climatic implications. We clarify how the implications for individual gases depend on the metrics used to relate them. We show that the way in which bal

SUBMITTER: Fuglestvedt J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5897819 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature