Planning for Net Zero in an Imperfect World

Ambitious climate policies may overlook practical constraints. Kleinman Center Visiting Scholar Niall Mac Dowell explores what deliverable paths to net zero might require.

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The Earth’s average temperature surpassed the 1.5°C threshold for the first time in 2024—a milestone driven in part by El Niño, but also a stark warning about our broader climate trajectory. While temperatures may moderate slightly in 2025, the world remains far from taking the decisive action needed to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change.

The obstacles to meaningful progress are complex, spanning economics, politics at local and global levels, and questions of technological scalability. The good news is that these are solvable challenges. Yet, despite our collective capacity, we’ve struggled to overcome the headwinds that continue to slow decisive climate action.

On the podcast, Niall Mac Dowell, visiting scholar at the Kleinman Center and professor of Future Energy Systems at Imperial College London, takes stock of where we are now. His work focuses on the transition to a low-carbon economy, with recent research exploring the feasibility of clean energy development projections and the role negative emissions could play in achieving net-zero goals. He shares his perspective on what it will take to move more decisively toward a sustainable energy future.

Niall Mac Dowell is Professor of Future Energy Systems at Imperial College London.

The official transcript for this episode is available on the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy website: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/ 

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