The recent statements by several world leaders endorsing the political goal of reducing their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, if not sooner, has been followed by the publication of several articles assessing the feasibility of this goal. One of the most interesting was the 2021 Annual Energy Paper published by the investment firm J.P. Morgan. J.P. Morgan is usually regarded as one of the most “woke” investment companies in the United States and one that supports the “decarbonization agenda”. For that reason and others, the contents of the paper, written by Michael Cembalist, are very interesting.
The paper can be found here.
Robert Lyman has written this simplified overview of key points.
After endorsing the decarbonization goal and assuring readers that “the overarching message of this paper is not climate nihilism”, the paper examines the technological and economic barriers to the goal of decarbonization. This article simply notes the highlights. I urge readers to examine the full J.P. Morgan report.
Excellent summary.
I’m no believer in the IPCCs CO2-based extreme global warming theory (CO2 on steriods). I have 25 years in the domain, and an appropriate engineering and science background. Why is net zero by 2050 such a challenge? Natural sequestration is currently 45% or so of annual emissions, and will rise as CO2 rises (reaction physics. Math 101 tells us we can make net zero while still using some 35% or so fossil fuels (also good to extend their resource-based life). There are several practical near-zero sources (nuclear especially) to fill the gap.