Climate Solutions

Six steps the world can take to halt climate change

The U.N.'s latest climate change report details the massive shifts necessary to cut the world’s emissions. But it also outlines various ways that can help hit the brakes on the planet’s warming.

By
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April 4, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. EDT
A rainbow appears along the Pacific Coast in Big Sur, Calif., on March 26, 2020. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
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7 min

It’s still possible for humanity to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change, a group of the world’s top energy experts, economists and social scientists said Monday — but only if societies take immediate, drastic action to put the planet on a safer path.

The task described by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is daunting: The world must slash annual greenhouse gas emissions by almost half in the next eight years, and find a way to zero out carbon pollution by the middle of the century.