Building back better through climate plans

The document highlights a significant misalignment between government energy production plans and Paris Agreement goals, noting that governments planned to extract 60% more oil, 70% more gas, and 280% more coal by 2030 than is consistent with a 1.5°C pathway. It suggests that NDCs and LT-LEDS can be used to communicate pathways, targets, and policy measures to manage the transition away from fossil fuels while ensuring a just transition for affected workers and communities.

• There is a major gap between current government production plans and the goals of the Paris Agreement; by 2030, governments plan to extract 60% more oil, 70% more gas, and 280% more coal than would be compatible with a 1.5°C pathway.
• Some countries have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with carbon-intensive recovery measures, such as the U.S. providing support for at least 90 fossil fuel companies, Alberta investing US$1.1 billion in the Keystone XL pipeline, and India auctioning 41 coal blocks for commercial mining.
• Other jurisdictions have implemented climate-compatible measures, including Canada's $1.7 billion CAD commitment to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells, and bans or moratoria on fossil fuel exploration in countries such as Belize, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, and New Zealand.
• Previous analyses of fossil fuel-producing countries' climate plans show a lack of commitment to wind down production; one-third of 57 first-round NDCs did not mention fossil fuel production, and none of the eight LT-LEDS examined contained pathways or targets to wind it down.
• Supply-side policy tools to manage the wind-down of fossil fuels include economic instruments like subsidy reform, regulatory approaches such as moratoria on new infrastructure, government divestment from fossil fuel holdings, and corporate disclosure requirements.

APA

Shawoo, Z., & Verkuijl, C. (2020). Building back better through climate plans. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/building-back-better-through-climate-plans-1120.pdf

Chicago

Shawoo, Zoha, and Cleo Verkuijl. Building back better through climate plans. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/building-back-better-through-climate-plans-1120.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shawoo |first1=Zoha |last2=Verkuijl |first2=Cleo |title=Building back better through climate plans |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/building-back-better-through-climate-plans-1120.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shawoo2020building, author = {Shawoo, Zoha and Verkuijl, Cleo}, title = {{Building back better through climate plans}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/building-back-better-through-climate-plans-1120.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }