PROSPECTS FOR ACCELERATION OF SOCIO-TECHNICAL TRANSITIONS FOR DEEP DECARBONIZATION

The climate emergency requires transformative change at unprecedented scale and pace. To limit global warming to between 1.5 and 2 degrees, greenhouse gas emissions must decline by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels. This requires accelerated technology diffusion as well as new forms of eco-development. So far, proposed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the 2015 Paris Agreement have proven insufficient. In contrast, significant sub-national level measures have been implemented promoting socio-technical transitions for deep decarbonization. In academia and policy-making circles, there is a tendency to view these transitions as a long-term and non-abrupt process. This has to change. The shift in climate mitigation trajectories to align with rapid decarbonization goals could follow the analogy of World War II industrial mobilization as an example of past societal responses to existential threats. This chapter examines and systematically compares the climate action plans of three frontrunner sub-national entities in the US, Japan and Australia. A preliminary assessment reveals both opportunities and challenges associated with acceleration of their respective decarbonization pathways and local energy transitions. This provides a useful contextual framework for the other chapters in this volume examining the environmental, ecological and landscape impacts associated with such transitions.