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Dangerous assumptions

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How big is the energy challenge of climate change? The technological advances needed to stabilize carbon-dioxide emissions may be greater than we think, argue Roger Pielke Jr, Tom Wigley and Christopher Green.

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Figure 1: Cumulative emissions.

R. KRAUSE/REUTERS

Figure 2: Decarbonization discrepancies.

R. KRAUSE/REUTERS

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roger Pielke Jr is in the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0488, USA.,

    Roger Pielke Jr

  2. Tom Wigley is in the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA.,

    Tom Wigley

  3. Christopher Green is in the Department of Economics, McGill University, Montreal H3A 2T7, Canada.,

    Christopher Green

Authors
  1. Roger Pielke Jr
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  2. Tom Wigley
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  3. Christopher Green
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Additional information

See Editorial, page 503 and News, page 508 . Join the discussion at: http://tinyurl.com/ys9xh8 Read Correspondence in response to this Commentary.

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Pielke, R., Wigley, T. & Green, C. Dangerous assumptions. Nature 452, 531–532 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452531a

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