Weston Roundtable – Deep Mitigation Pathways Underlying the Science-Policy Interface of Climate Change

Speaker: Matt Gidden, Senior Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Energy, Climate, and Environment Program

A total of 197 countries have signed the Paris Agreement – the global framework to limit global warming to 1.5C and address the already-present and future impacts of climate change. The best available science is regularly relied upon to inform the policy discourse through a periodic review of the long-term temperature goal and requests to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which recently produced its 6th Assessment Report on the state of climate science.

Mitigation pathways assessed by the IPCC underpin key policy relevant milestones and provide guidance for countries to set national targets in line with global climate objectives. This talk will discuss the models used to these pathways and the key mitigation levers needed to achieve ambitious climate targets, including zero-carbon electricity systems and carbon removal technologies. Particular focus will be given to how mitigation pathways inform negotiation processes, including the yearly Conference of Parties, setting of national policy targets such as Nationally Determined Contributions and net zero targets, and the ongoing Global Stocktake.

The Weston Roundtable is made possible by a generous donation from Roy F. Weston, a highly accomplished UW-Madison alumnus. Designed to promote a robust understanding of sustainability science, engineering, and policy, these interactive lectures are co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Office of Sustainability.