Book contents
- Planet in Peril
- Reviews
- Planet in Peril
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Fictional Vignettes
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Existential Threats: The Four Most Pressing Dangers Facing Humankind
- Part II Strategies and Obstacles: The Solutions We Need, and What’s Preventing Them from Being Realized
- 6 How to Beat Climate Change
- 7 Wise Governance for Nukes and Pandemics: Where to Go Faster and Where to Slow Down
- 8 Controlling Things Versus Controlling Agents: The Challenge of High-Level AI
- 9 The International Dimension: Where Every Solution Stumbles
- Prologue to Parts III, IV, and V
- Part III Sensible Steps for Today’s World: Powerful Measures We Can Implement Right Away
- Part IV The Middle-Term Goal: New International Tools for the Late Twenty-First Century
- Part V The Long-Term Goal: Envisioning a Mature System of Global Governance for the Twenty-Second Century
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - How to Beat Climate Change
from Part II - Strategies and Obstacles: The Solutions We Need, and What’s Preventing Them from Being Realized
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2022
- Planet in Peril
- Reviews
- Planet in Peril
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Fictional Vignettes
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Existential Threats: The Four Most Pressing Dangers Facing Humankind
- Part II Strategies and Obstacles: The Solutions We Need, and What’s Preventing Them from Being Realized
- 6 How to Beat Climate Change
- 7 Wise Governance for Nukes and Pandemics: Where to Go Faster and Where to Slow Down
- 8 Controlling Things Versus Controlling Agents: The Challenge of High-Level AI
- 9 The International Dimension: Where Every Solution Stumbles
- Prologue to Parts III, IV, and V
- Part III Sensible Steps for Today’s World: Powerful Measures We Can Implement Right Away
- Part IV The Middle-Term Goal: New International Tools for the Late Twenty-First Century
- Part V The Long-Term Goal: Envisioning a Mature System of Global Governance for the Twenty-Second Century
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The top priority in addressing climate change is to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero as swiftly as possible. Among the policy instruments for achieving this goal: carbon markets and carbon taxes; subsidies and incentives for energy conservation and for developing renewable energy technologies; building a new network of advanced nuclear reactors to provide carbon-free energy; imposing restraints on deforestation and planting large numbers of new trees; developing powerful new technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; incentivizing private citizens to reduce the carbon footprint of their lifestyles; and introducing new governmental policies for decarbonizing national economies. By combining all these strategies, humankind could realistically reach net zero emissions by the middle years of this century. From that point forward, it can start actively removing existing accumulations of carbon dioxide, eventually bringing global warming to a halt and reversing some of the damage that’s already been done.
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- Planet in PerilHumanity's Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them, pp. 79 - 97Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022