This report contributes to the national debate on climate-change mitigation, and the importance of deep decarbonization, by examining three alternative pathways that could reduce Italian CO2 emissions by at least 40% in 2030 and 80% in 2050, compared to 1990. It analyzes the challenges the Italian energy system faces, and possible future technological developments that will need to be pursued.

In this study, three Deep-Decarbonization Pathways are defined for Japan, each meeting the 2050 mitigation target, while considering different assumptions regarding the availability of low-carbon technologies. The assessments of these scenarios, using AIM/Enduse and AIM/CGE models, demonstrate that they correspond to realistic transformations and help to identify the conditions for their implementation.

Sector-based CO2 emissions scenarios to 2050 have been generated in order to explore the changes required in Mexico’s energy systems to achieve emissions reductions consistent with the internationally agreed 2°C goal. To develop these scenarios or “pathways,” tools and methodologies were used that are shared between the 16 countries contributing to the Deep-Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP).

Decision makers in government and business increasingly need to understand the practical implications of deep reductions in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This report examines the technical and economic feasibility of such a transition in the United States, evaluating the infrastructure and technology changes required to reduce U.S. GHG emissions in the year 2050 by 80% below 1990 levels, consistent with a global emissions trajectory that limits the anthropogenic increase in earth’s mean surface temperature to less than 2°C.

The South African country research team explored deep decarbonization pathways that focused on development and climate, putting equal emphasis on both goals. Satisfying multiple objectives, e.g., employment, income and GHG reductions, is critical as meeting a carbon constraint is one of many goals, and not necessarily the highest priority in a country such as South Africa, which has extreme and persistent poverty and high unemployment rates. Decarbonization pathways are connected to domestic economic and social structures, as well as global trade, prices, financial flows and international agreements.