Tackling Demand and Driving Disruption: Exploring Climate Futures with an Interactive Simulator

Drew Jones, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Climate Interactive, joined this year’s Climate Solutions Summit to demonstrate EN-ROADS, an emissions reductions simulator used within the UNFCC to model global temperature target setting. EN-ROADS is an interactive tool that enables users to explore the impact of roughly 30 policies/initiatives—such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices—on hundreds of factors like energy prices, temperature, air quality, and sea level rise.

“Climate solutions are not a silver bullet. They are silver buckshot,” says Drew. The model illustrates that there is no one answer to emissions reductions. It requires an aggressive push to reduce oil and gas supplies by halting new exploration and production, and, as importantly, disruptive investment in the highest emissions emitting sectors—such as industrials and mobility. Energy production (25%), industrial (21%), and transportation (14%) sectors are 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Natural solutions play an incredibly important role by providing necessary life-sustaining co-benefits that protect fragile ecosystems and vulnerable species, and provide the natural resources that we reply upon; but investing in natural solutions alone will not slow climate change in the time remaining to avoid the worst impacts of accelerating emissions production.

Key Take-aways? A price on carbon, disruptive investment in high emissions producing sectors, reduction in oil and gas supply, less meat consumption, and global cooperation are the biggest levers to meeting our 2030 / 2050 net zero goals.

You can view Drew’s 8-minute summary of the session here:

Explore the simulator with the results from the end of that session here. To schedule a presentation with Climate Interactive, please reach out to Climate Interactive.

- Andrew P. Jones, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Climate Interactive