There is the potential for positive tipping points in the fight against climate change, according to a report called The Breakthrough Effect.
This includes the moments when low-carbon technologies or fuels become more affordable, attractive and accessible.
One tipping point the report singles out is green ammonia production, which is projected to become economically viable and technologically mature within a decade.
Progress towards such tipping points is often driven by increases in production leading to higher performance, lower costs, greater adoption and further production, the report says.
A recent landmark report on the climate crisis pointed out some near-term tipping points that could mean the difference between a habitable planet and an uninhabitable one.
It is one of the more hopeful things you’ll ever read.
No, not that report. I’m referring to “The Breakthrough Effect,” published by the Bezos Earth Fund, SystemIQ and the University of Exeter. It describes solutions that ovide “an opportunity to rapidly increase the deployment of zero-emission solutions and drastically cut global emissions,” including the paths to get there.
It is, in effect, a roadmap of what’s possible, what’s inevitable and what’s imperative if we’re to tame the climate monster bearing down on us all.
The report, subtitled “How to trigger a cascade of tipping points to accelerate the net-zero transition,” examines the “positive socio-economic tipping points” key to decarbonizing our world, including the conditions required to make them affordable, attractive and accessible, and the state of play in achieving those conditions.
Moreover, it attempts to show the synergies across technologies and sectors — “that crossing a tipping point in one sector can help to create the conditions that trigger a tipping point in other sectors, producing ‘tipping cascades’ across the highest-emitting sectors of the economy.”
“Triggering tipping points and subsequent tipping cascades may be one ofor most powerful tools for reducing emissions at pace and steering us away from climate catastrophe,” the authors write. “Identifying key opportunities and making relatively small, targeted changes can produce huge returns in terms of decarbonization. High-emitting sectors of the economy do not exist in isolation — they are highly interconnected — and zero-emission solutions can influence transitions in multiple sectors simultaneously.”
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