RMI’s analysis reveals how positive feedbacks in clean-energy technologies can drive down costs as global manufacturing scale increases, creating virtuous cycles similar to the ones that have driven Moore’s Law in the high-tech sector.
Limiting Global Temperature Rise
Identifying and scaling pathways to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement
Using every means at our disposal, from proven approaches to emerging technologies, to cap the effects of climate change
What Is the Limiting Global Temperature Rise initiative?
RMI’s analysis explores transformational changes in energy, agriculture, forestry, and land use to rapidly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.
Why It Matters
According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap report, even if the pledges made by nations participating in the Paris Agreement are fulfilled, global emissions will put us on a path to temperature rise of 2.9 to 3.4°C (5.2 to 6.1°F) this century. Limiting temperature increases to less than 1.5°C will require more and deeper change in the years ahead than most analysts contemplate, with shifts not only in the energy sector but also in agriculture and land use. Our assessment indicates that such changes are still within reach, but only if global actions lead to a dramatic acceleration of the energy transition.
What We're Doing
Raising Awareness: Through our thought leadership and public engagement, we are helping to educate policymakers, practitioners, and the general public on the wide range of market-centered approaches across humanity's interface with the natural world to limit global temperature rise.
Thinking big: By grounding our assumptions and modeling on market adoption curves similar to those that have characterized earlier disruptive technologies ranging from automobiles to cell phones, we make the case that limiting global temperature rise to meet the Paris Agreement targets is achievable. And by evaluating and supporting emerging innovations in the space, we elevate additional tools to employ in speeding progress.
Motivating Action: Across a range of engagements and through an ethical commitment to spur progress, RMI is tacking the climate challenge with a global, whole-systems approach.
Helping policymakers and experts think strategically about the role of U.S. landscapes in climate mitigation, and how to most responsibly manage this important resource.