Avit Bhowmik on Exponential Climate Action Roadmap

An open seminar was held by the Risk- and Envronmental studies discipline on Friday 15 November, where Avit Bhowmik talked about his work on the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap. Avit also shared his experiences from the Global Climate Week and UN Climate Action Summit in September.

In his talk, Avit briefly outlined the climate challenge that humanity is facing and the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap initiative – 36 solutions with their exponential implementation strategies to halve global emission by 2030. Avit also shared his experience of participating at the Global Climate Week and UN Climate Action Summit as an Environmental Scientist, Solution Modeller and Climate Striker!

A Roadmap for Exponential Climate Action

While the devastating impacts of global warming are getting more and more prominent across global societies, 197 nations forged the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and created a global consensus to limit Earth’s temperature rise to “well below 2°C”, and “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that a 1.5°C world will be substantially better for societies than 2°C, which demands peaking global emission by 2020 and halving by 2030.

The Exponential Climate Action Roadmap initiative, in which Avit work as lead data modeller, brings together technology innovators, scientists, companies and NGOs to explore and consolidate solutions for mitigating climate change. Importantly, the initative models these solutions' implementation strategies to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The roadmap provides 36 solutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 worldwide. Two reports were published during the Global Climate Week in the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. The 2019 Exponential Roadmap covers how to accelerate the 36 solutions required to slash greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 and the Meeting the 1.5°C Climate Ambition report makes the case for action sooner rather than later

During the week there were a series of events within the framework of the UN Summit, where the initiative presented the updated report and the high ambition narrative and discussed the role of strong policies and climate action with politicians and industrial leaders. The team also participated in the Global Climate Strike with Greta Thunberg in New York and presented the roadmap in the Research to Action Conference at the Penn State University.

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