Pathways to net zero Sample Clauses

Pathways to net zero. ‌ This session began with a presentation by Xxxxxx’s colleague Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), on ‘Scenarios for climate neutrality: A multi-model assessment’. Xxxxxxx first outlined the three main scenario narratives developed by the project;’ ‘New Players’, ‘Incumbents’, and ‘Efficieny’, and the models used to examine them. Key insights common to all three scenarios is that electrification rates in Europe must increase by at least 2-3 times by 2050, and variable renewable energy must also increase very substantially, and other zero-carbon energy carriers (e.g. hydrogen) must be utilized to some degree in hard- to-electrify end uses. In short, ‘we need a lot of everything’ - although the specifics on each of elements, in addition to factors such as the use of carbon capture nad negative emission technologies, varies depending on the narrative examined. Xxxxxxx Xx Xxxx (E3 Modelling) then presented on work examining the impacts of ‘upscaling targets to 2030 and the path dependence to 2050 carbon neutrality’, specifically on the increase of the EU 2030 target for GHG reduction to 55% from 1990 levels. Xxxxxxx first introduced the PRIMES model, and the imporvements made to it, which were then used to examine the impacts of this increased target. A key result is that although the supply side of the energy system is decarbonising relatively rapdily, action on the demand-side must substantially increase. However, the power sector must reach carbon-neutrality by 2040, driven by improved price signals and regulatory infrastructure. On the demand-side, renovation rates of existing buildings must double from 1% to 2% per year, which is a particular challenge, and must be driven by broad and deep policy to reduce market and non-market barriers to this end. The discussion was led by Xxxxx Xxxxx (Xxxxx University). He believed these presentations were very timely in examining critical issues of what is required now to achieve these medium- and longer-term targets. However, one thing that cuts across all these issues is ‘feasibility. Models look at technical and in some cases economic feasibility, but they are less suited for examining political feasibility, for example, with such things usually externalised from the analysis. He also found it interesting that there were certain elements that were central to all scenarios, particularly electrification, and the deployment of substnaital levels of renewables and CO2 removal or CO2-negat...