{"id":6728,"date":"2023-06-11T20:30:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T17:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/?p=6728"},"modified":"2023-06-11T20:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T17:30:28","slug":"climate-change-mitigation-reducing-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/news\/climate-change-mitigation-reducing-emissions","title":{"rendered":"Climate change mitigation: reducing emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our climate is changing because of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Despite notable emission reductions over the last decades, the EU must transform production and consumption systems to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.<\/p>\n

Mitigating climate change means\u00a0reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases<\/b>\u00a0into the atmosphere. This involves cutting greenhouse gases from main sources such as power plants<\/a>, factories, cars, and farms. Forests, oceans, and soil also absorb and store these gases, and are an important part of the solution. Reducing and avoiding our emissions requires us to reshape everything we do \u2014 from how we power our economy and grow our food<\/a>, to how we travel and live, and the products we consume. It is a problem\u00a0felt locally and globally<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Reducing emissions requires rethinking society, economics, science and politics. The faster we act to reduce these emissions, the better off we will be in the future.<\/p>\n

In the past decades, the\u00a0EU took firm action<\/strong>\u00a0against climate change<\/a>, resulting in a more than 30% drop in EU emissions in 2020 compared with 1990 levels \u2014 well beyond the 2020 target to reduce emissions by 20%. This is mainly a result of a growing use of\u00a0renewable energy<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and decreased use of carbon-intensive fossil fuels. Improvements in\u00a0energy efficiency<\/a>\u00a0and structural changes in the economy also contributed to meeting these goals.<\/p>\n

Now, more ambitious goals are set that include a net\u00a055% or greater reduction\u00a0<\/strong>below 1990 levels by 2030 and a climate-neutrality objective by 2050. Reaching these goals will require even higher emission cuts through transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. It also means\u00a0halting deforestation, using land sustainably<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0r<\/strong>estoring nature<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0until we reach the point where the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is balanced with the capture and storage of these gases in our forests, oceans and soil.<\/p>\n

The EU emits 6% of global emissions and cannot act alone.\u00a0Global cooperation<\/strong>\u00a0is essential for all climate change mitigation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change<\/a> (UNFCCC) and the\u00a0Paris Agreement<\/strong>\u00a0ensure cooperation across borders to tackle climate change and ensure a sustainable future.<\/p>\n

EU Member States have put in place\u00a02,300 policies and measures<\/a>\u00a0to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.\u00a0National climate change\u00a0mitigation strategies<\/strong>, policies and other accompanying measures are also in development. These include\u00a0targets for greenhouse gas emissions in key sectors<\/strong>\u00a0of the economy<\/a>, promoting the use of renewable energy and low carbon fuels, energy efficiency improvements in buildings, and many more.<\/p>\n

Overall, the EU fully achieved its 2020 targets across all\u00a0three target areas<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 greenhouse gas emissions,\u00a0energy efficiency\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0renewable energy<\/a>. Most Member States succeeded in meeting their individual 2020 climate<\/a> targets as well.<\/p>\n

Achievements in emission\u00a0reductions vary across sectors\u00a0<\/strong>too. Most EU sectors reduced greenhouse gas emissions over the past three decades, with the highest reductions in the energy supply sector. Still, agriculture and transport struggle to reduce emissions:<\/p>\n