Abstract
This chapter discusses a number of themes that cut across all 5 pillars, including: Integrated responses to the climate crisis are required so that transitions initiatives acknowledge both the global imperative for emissions reduction /mitigation together with regional and local imperatives for adaptation; Justice should be considered as a core instrument and driver, rather than aspirational end-point, of sustainability transition. Justice need not be simply an ideal of sustainable economies, emerging at some unknown point into the future, but rather a means or process through which sustainable economies can be realized in actuality; a capabilities approach to climate justice can better frame impacts of adaptation and mitigation actions, while acknowledging socio-spatial differentiation and vulnerabilities; fundamental geographical concepts such as scale and connection, governance and power relations, proximity and distance and space and place are fundamental to understanding processes of transition, vulnerability and resilience building.
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Notes
- 1.
The emissions gap for 2030 is defined as the difference between global total GHG emissions from least-cost scenarios that keep global warming to 2 °C, 1.8 °C or 1.5 °C (UNEP, 2020).
- 2.
UNEP point to an emissions reduction potential ~37 GtCO2e by 2030 (UNEP, 2021), including 12.5 GtCO2e in Energy, 5.4 GtCO2e in Industry, 4.7 GtCO2e in Transport, 1.9 GtCO2e in Buildings, 5.3 GtCO2e in Forests, 6.7 GtCO2e in Agriculture and waste.
- 3.
Phrase coined by Kokorsch (2018).
- 4.
About Fig. 7.2 (first published in Morrissey & Heidkamp, 2022): Historical data on carbon intensity for 2011–2019 from Our World in Data (2021). Global emissions data for 2020 and 2021 from Statistica (2021). Economic growth scenarios based on average global growth rate 2010 to 2020 of ~2.5% and max global growth rate of ~4.5% (in 2010) sourced from World Bank (2021). Global GDP figures for 2020 and 2021 from the International Monetary Fund (2021). Emissions cuts scenarios of 7.6% per year to meet the 1.5 °C goal and 2.7% per year for the 2 °C goal from UNEP (2019). Emissions cut figures have been adjusted to account for actual economic and emissions growth in 2020–2021, with emissions cuts ‘missed’ for 2021 distributed across 2022–2030. This analysis was first reported in Morrissey and Heidkamp (2022).
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Morrissey, J., Heidkamp, C.P. (2022). Implementing the Pillars: Towards Shared Sustainable Prosperity. In: Demanding Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18958-6_7
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