According to Climate Progress : ” In 2004, Princeton Profs Socolow and Pacala published a paper in Science, “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies.”
” (…) I spoke to Socolow today at length, and he stands behind every word of that — including the carefully-worded title. Indeed, if Socolow were king, he told me, he’d start deploying some 8 wedges immediately.“
When the paper was first published, we needed only seven of these wedges. Conclusion : the more we will wait, the more it will cost us to mitigate climate change. Let’s demand action NOW !
Climate Progress brings several interesting notes, including :
So Socolow and Pacala was shooting at 500 ± 50 ppm CO2 with his 7 wedges. Now he would be over-delighted with 8 wedges and staying below 550 ppm.
His priority back in 2004 — and still today — is avoiding the catastrophic warming we face on our business-as-usual emissions path of 5°C to 6°C (9 to 11 °F).
That’s why he says we need to start aggressive technology deployment now, along with a CO2 price that rises within a decade to serious levels of “$50 to $100 a ton of CO2.”
I blogged as early as 2007 about this theory. Please check out the original articles :
