Energy Insiders - a RenewEconomy Podcast Time to go "full sail" on decarbonisation
Sep 12, 2025
Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO and executive director of the Global Carbon Project, emphasizes the need for high climate targets by 2035. He discusses how reduced aerosols reveal hidden warming, the weakening of carbon sinks, and the alarming rate of ocean heat uptake. Canadell highlights the critical differences between 1.5°C and 2°C warming, advocates for ambitious decarbonisation strategies, and argues that now is the time to act to manage climate impacts. He also warns against the politicization of climate science.
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Aerosol Clean-Up Is Revealing Hidden Warming
- Recent warming sits on the higher end of model projections, partly due to reduced ship-sulfur aerosols since 2020.
- Cleaner fuels unmask up to ~0.5°C of warming that was previously masked by aerosol cooling.
Land And Ocean Sinks Are Weakening
- Natural CO2 sinks (oceans and land) are absorbing less of our emissions recently, increasing atmospheric CO2 growth.
- 2024 saw unusually large atmospheric CO2 growth showing more emitted carbon remains in the air.
Warming Rate: 0.3°C Per Decade
- Current emissions trajectory implies ~0.3°C warming per decade, much faster than last century.
- If unchanged, this pace would push global average well past +2.5°C within ~50 years.