Accelerating Deep Decarbonization of US Transportation Modes

Climate change is already causing large damages from sea level rise, drought, and extreme weather. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (often called ‘decarbonization’ reflecting the role of carbon dioxide in greenhouse warming) is imperative if these costs are to be mitigated or reduced. This seminar will draw on work from the National Research Council’s Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States study committee reports as well as the speaker’s personal views. Policy actions include (1) Improve energy efficiency and productivity, (2) Electrify transportation as much as possible, (3) Decarbonize power generation, (4) Build critical network infrastructure, (5) Mitigate non-energy greenhouse gas emissions and (6) Innovate to create a net-zero toolkit. At the same time, the US should pursue socio-economic goals to insure just and sustainable transitions.

Speaker: Chris Hendrickson, Carnegie Mellon University