Thermal power plants must shut down early to meet climate targets, says study 8
(EurActiv, 8 Jun 2020) Coal and gas-fired power plants would have to shut down 10 to 30 years sooner than their usual 35 to 40-year lifespan so that climate targets can be met, a study reveals. EURACTIV’s partner le Journal de l’environnement reports.
All climate scenarios are consistent: to stay below the target of +2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, or even +1.5°C, the world’s greenhouse gas emissions will have to drop rapidly in order to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century.
While things look simple on paper, the reality is significantly different. Not least because of the existence of coal-fired and gas-fired power plants, which have an average lifespan of 39 and 36 years respectively. This means that, unless we increasingly rely on hypothetical negative emissions, we must consider shutting them down early.
In a study published in the scientific journal known as Environmental Research Letters, Steven Davis’ team from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California (Irvine) analysed the global fleet of thermal power plants, calculating the excess emissions over climate targets of +1.5°C, +2°C and +3°C over the century.
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