What is Net Zero?

It is international scientific consensus that, in order to prevent the worst climate damages, global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) need to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching Net Zero around 2050. Global warming is proportional to cumulative CO2 emissions, which means that the planet will keep heating for as long as global emissions remain more than zero. This implies environmental damage caused by global heating will continue escalating for as long as emissions continue.

Net Zero refers to a state in which the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere. The term represents an important milestone because this is the state at which global warming – that related to CO2 at least – stops.

Net Zero is the internationally agreed upon goal for mitigating global warming in the second half of the century. More information on Net Zero can be found here.