When It Comes to Carbon Emissions, We Can Achieve Net Zero
Saint Mary’s School of Economics and Business Administration hosts global energy and sustainability leader Matt Rogers for the Executive Speaker Series on February 21. He will address business responsibilities and opportunities as we try to course correct
In 2015, 197 countries endorsed the Paris agreement, committing to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C, preferably below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
First the bad news—which you may well know: The global climate is already ~1.2°C above pre-industrial levels according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This means a 1.5°C target requires reducing global carbon emissions to net zero no later than 2050. Indeed, emissions need to fall ~50% by 2030 to have a shot at meeting 1.5°C.
So what has happened? Hundreds of companies and many countries have made public commitments to deliver. However, says global energy and sustainability leader Matt Rogers, for all the good rhetoric and public commitments, current commitments fall 70% short of what would be needed by 2030 to deliver on the 1.5°C commitment. Instead, we are likely on a path to 2.5°C and perhaps higher, well outside the bounds of the last 12,000 years.
Regrettably, neither the countries nor the companies committing to net zero have “clear and credible policy actions and strategies today” necessary to deliver, says Rogers.
Now for the good news: We know how to drive this broad-based decarbonization economically, Rogers argues. And on February 21, we will have a good discussion about the realistic pathways to net zero.
Rogers appears as part of the Executive Speaker Series hosted by the Saint Mary’s School for Economics and Business Administration. The event takes place in the Hagerty Lounge of De La Salle Hall on the SMC campus in Moraga. The event is free and open to the public.
About Matt Rogers
Rogers’ work focuses on the role technology and innovation play in restructuring markets. For the last 20+ years, he has served oil, gas, power, renewables, and energy technology clients around the world for McKinsey. He served as the Senior Advisor to the US Secretary of Energy 2009–10, leading the Recovery Act Implementation. He held operational responsibility for the Department of Energy’s $35 billion in Recovery Act appropriations, reviewing more than 30,000 applications and funding more than 5,000 projects to accelerate US energy clean energy innovation. He is the author of Resource Revolution: Capturing the Biggest Business Opportunity in 100 Years, where he lays out how the combination of information technology with industrial technology is changing the way we produce and use natural resources.
Event Details
Executive Speaker Series: Achieving Net Zero
Business Responsibilities & Opportunities As We Course Correct Our Climate
with Matt Rogers
Tuesday, February 21, 6–7 p.m.
Saint Mary’s College of California
Hagerty Lounge, De La Salle Hall
1928 St. Marys Road
Moraga, CA 94575