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The 2015 international Paris Agreement called for pursuing efforts to limit the changes in climate to 1.5^∘C above pre-industrial levels. This study uses two approaches to re-examine this feasibility more fully. The observed trends in the temperature record provide one means to estimate when 1.5^∘C will be reached. Examination of the remaining allowed carbon emissions provides another approach. The temperature record and the observed trends in temperature over recent decades suggest that 1.5^∘C will be reached by 2032–2042. Consideration of the equivalent amount of CO₂ reveals the ranges of 266, 366 and 531 GtCO₂-eq still allowed for 67%, 50% and 33% probabilities, respectively, of staying within the temperature limit. At the current rate of emissions, the 50% limit would be reached in eight years. If an emissions reduction of 4% per year beginning in January 2023 is considered, the 67% likelihood for staying within the 1.5^∘C limit is passed in 2030 and the 50% likelihood is passed in 2035. As a result, humanity is very unlikely to meet the identified targets needed to keep the global temperature change to 1.5^∘C and the SSP1-1.9 scenario assumptions for future emissions toward enabling a limit of 1.5^∘C are also extremely unlikely.

Climate change is the outstanding survival and ethical issue of our time, and requires urgent action if our descendants are to inherit a livable world. Substantial opportunities exist in the transition to a renewable economy provided through climate action. Reliable, relevant, and accessible information is key…

The Energy Efficiency Finance Task Group (EEFTG) aims to enhance capital flows for energy efficiency investments in the G20 countries and the European Union. Launched in 2015, EEFTG is an initiative of the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (?), an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, France. With the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) as part of its secretariat, EEFTG’s mission is to support G20 economies to build robust, investment-grade policy and investment frameworks by engaging with financial institutions to help them build their capacity, instruments and interests in energy efficiency. In addition, EEFTG serves as a forum for G20 policymakers to share their most successful practices with each other and with members of the private and public finance community, industry, and international organizations.

In response to the sustainability challenges that the Los Angeles region is facing due to the climate crisis and an increasing population, UCLA launched the first university-led Grand Challenge in 2013 — the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, thriving in a hotter Los Angeles. The long-term goals of this Grand Challenge are to transition Los Angeles County to 100% renewable energy, 100% local water, and enhanced ecosystem health by the year 2050. UCLA is leading this effort by coordinating research across disciplines, educating and training students to be the next-generation of problem solvers, and engaging stakeholders to create policy recommendations, technology breakthroughs, and partnerships that result in scalable urban sustainability solutions. Los Angeles County’s diversity in sustainability challenges, landscapes, and cultures make solutions implemented in Los Angeles relevant for megacities across the globe.

Faith communities can be important moral constituencies for action on climate change. The Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) is a grassroots advocacy movement in Northern Virginia that motivates concrete actions by members of more than 75 diverse congregations to move the region to zero carbon emissions by 2050. We organize the concern that people of all faith traditions have toward care for creation into focused advocacy and leadership by example. FACS, a 501(c)(3) non-partisan organization, mobilizes clergy and lay members of Catholic, Hindu, Muslim, mainline and evangelical Protestant, Jewish, Sikh, Friends, Unitarian Universalist, and Buddhist faith communities, as well as people unaffiliated with specific faith traditions. We are creating practical, replicable models of local interfaith grassroots organizations that work locally to build healthy, resilient, and thriving communities in which environmentally sound choices become the default, first choices of individuals, corporations, and the public sector.

This chapter describes how economic models are used to answer questions about policy changes, specifically in the context of a carbon fee-and-dividend system. A carbon fee-and-dividend is a price on carbon dioxide emissions that returns the revenues gained to ordinary households in the form of a monthly check. The chapter describes, in nontechnical terms, the economic models and modeling processes involved and how they are similar and different from climate models…

This chapter examined historical occurrence of natural disasters, policy frameworks related to disasters, implementation arrangements and challenges, national and household resources to natural disasters in Malawi. It is found that Malawi has an updated national disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy that is coordinated by the Department of Disaster Risk management and Affairs within the Office of President and Cabinet. The policy is linked to various related sectoral policies and to national growth and development strategy. There are various committees established at various levels that deliberate on issues related to disaster risk reduction and management. At national level, priority areas have been identified. In addition, the chapter concluded that household strategies such as crop diversification, irrigation farming and income generating activities have positive and significant contribution on reducing disaster risk to household food production and let alone welfare.