2 Degrees – Changing Our Lifestyles

World leaders have finally agreed to make efforts to limit global warming to a “relatively safe” 2 Celsius rise in global temperatures. A landmark in fighting climate change.

But what does this really mean, and what changes must be made to make this a reality?

• Diverting investments in new power stations from fossil fuels to wind, solar and other renewable energy (Politically a tricky task in the United States)
• Wealthy countries need to raise tens of billions of dollars a year to help poor countries develop in cleaner ways than the industrial world did over the last 150 years.
• World emissions of carbon and other green house gases must peak within 10-15 years and then rapidly drop by 50 percent by mid-century. Anything beyond 2 degrees increases the risk of weather-related disasters, disruptions in agriculture and the spread of diseases.
• Developing countries want developed countries to make up for the fact that they are mainly responsible for the CO2 already emitted in the atmosphere, thus want to face softer regulations.
• It implies a dramatic shift in the way we generate electricity, fuel our cars and build our homes and skyscrapers.