5 - Restraint
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2026
Summary
If we are realistic about deployment rates, we can anticipate that by 2050, we will be able to access about half the energy we would like, all of which will be emissions-free electricity. We will have very little carbon storage and cannot draw on any more biomass. This means that delivering a safe climate requires electrifying everything, halving our demand for energy and phasing out the seven non-energy activities that lead to emissions: deforestation, fugitive emissions, sheep and cows, most fertilisers, aeroplane contrails, and conventional cement and rice. Eventually these limits will be imposed on us as constraints through health and safety regulation, but for now they require voluntary restraint that we must embrace by choice if we are concerned about climate safety. However, we can live great lives within this reduced budget.
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- Promise the EarthA Safe Climate in Good Faith, pp. 49 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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