UN Climate Change News, 17 October 2023 – A new report from the Katowice Committee on Impacts explores the impacts and potential of emerging industries that can help cut greenhouse gas emissions and reach net-zero by 2050.
The report focuses on three industries: hydrogen, carbon capture utilization and storage and artificial intelligence. These industries were selected based on their potential for driving progress in limiting global temperature rise and changing the current trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero.
The report provides a detailed description of these technologies, methods to assess their economic and social impacts, and the imperative of maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative impacts of their implementation.
It finds these technologies offer significant positive opportunities. These include the creation of sustainable jobs, skills and knowledge, and the avoidance of stranded assets and extension of the lifespan of existing infrastructure – all of which can increase prosperity for workers, provide stable employment and boost clean economic growth.
The report advocates that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 demands deep decarbonization worldwide, meaning that all economies – big and small – will need to contribute towards this goal using available technologies.
The overall goal of the new report is to inform Parties’ and other stakeholders’ policy development and decision-making, and facilitate global, regional, and national action towards a sustainable and resilient future, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Read the full report, Impacts of Emerging Industries and Businesses Hydrogen, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage and Artificial Intelligence, here.
Learn more about the Katowice Committee on Impacts here.
