Weather & Science
Scientists Behind ‘Net Zero’ Concept Say Nations Are Getting It Wrong
In a new study, high-profile climate scientists say countries are using flawed carbon accounting by relying too heavily on trees and oceans to absorb new carbon emissions.
Trees in a forest in Nyanga, Gabon.
Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Diplomats from 197 countries agreed earlier this month to new rules governing how they can buy and sell credits to neutralize carbon emissions. But while they were deliberating, some of the biggest names in climate science, who defined “net zero” in 2009, found something wrong with the math underlying those debates.
“Achieving ‘net zero’ no longer means what we meant by it,” said Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science at University of Oxford, one of the authors of a new paper published last month in the journal Nature.