Introduction
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) calls into question whether it will
be possible for the world to limit temperature increase by the end
of the century to under 2°C, which was the target agreed by the
international community in 2010 at the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks in
Cancun.
It follows a recent assessment by the International Energy
Agency (IEA)1 which concluded that the
policies that have been implemented, or are being pursued, are
likely to result in a long-term temperature increase of between
3.6-5.3°C.
The findings of both reports highlight that immediate,
aggressive and sustained action is required if the 2°C goal is
to be met and suggest that a more comprehensive and coordinated
range of market, policy and regulatory levers will be needed in the
short term.
