Page 25 - Methodology to assess Net Zero progress in cities

Figure 9: The (A) absolute emission reduction target, (B) intensity target, and (C) baseline scenario
target proposed for GHGs emission mitigation in cities� (Wei et al�, 2021)

In general, the Chinese Government had promised that the carbon intensity would be reduced by
40–45 per cent during the period 2005–2020. In fact, by the end of 2019, China had reduced its
carbon intensity by ∼48.1 per cent compared with 2005, which already exceeded its commitment.
More than 30 countries have announced their carbon neutrality commitments and almost
100 countries have Net Zero-emission targets under discussion (Net Zero Tracker, 2021), which
may inspire other regions to strengthen their climate goals. An increasing number of cities have
also proposed carbon neutrality targets. In total, 40 (24 per cent) of the 167 cities in this study
have set carbon neutrality (or Net Zero-carbon, climate neutrality) goal, which may account for
more than 80 per cent of their current GHG reduction. Most European cities are striving to achieve
carbon neutrality by 2050 (36 cities; i.e., 90 per cent) to synchronize with the EU's goal as a whole;
four European cities even set these goals by the 2020s − 2030s. Similarly, most cities in the United
States have set targets to reduce GHG emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Copenhagen (Denmark)
aims to become the first carbon-neutral capital in 2025. Studies have shown that 60 per cent of EU
Covenant of Mayors' cities have been able to meet their 2020 carbon reduction targets (Hsu et al.,
2020), which is 20 per cent of CO reduction between 1990 and 2020 (Kona et al., 2018); however,
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overall, they must double their efforts to comply with the Paris Agreement of Net Zero emissions
around 2050 (Salvia et al., 2021)" (Wei, Wu, & Chen, 2021).

The report entitled “Tallying Updated NDCs to Gauge Emissions Reductions in 2030 and Progress
toward Net Zero” (2022) is a part of the energy systems modelling programme at Columbia
University's Center on Global Energy Policy, which aims to assess the alignment between updated
nationally determined contribution (NDCs) and current lifecycle pledges for policymakers and
industry leaders to gain insight into their own national and corporate decarbonization outlooks. It
presents an estimate of the percentage reduction in greenhouse gases (GHGs) from 2015 to 2030
for all commitments outlined in NDCs for countries that also have a Net Zero target.

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