The Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Woodwell Climate Research Center are presenting a COP29 Side Event: Impacts of Growing Wildfire-Related Emissions on the Global Carbon Budget, the +1.5 Limit, and the Next NDCs.
This event will present the latest science behind those emissions as well as their impact on the global carbon budget, and provide a platform to discuss the viability of the +1.5 limit and the preparation of the next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in light of those emissions.
The side event will first introduce the latest research on increasing wildfire emissions, particularly due to intensifying fire regimes in the Arctic region. Panelists will highlight the latest scientific findings on Arctic wildfires and wildfire-permafrost interactions that are accelerating the release of greenhouse gas emission. The panel will elaborate how these wildfire-related emissions affect the carbon budget that remains for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and consider how wildfire mitigation efforts, like those championed by the Arctic Council, may help achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Finally, the panel will discuss the ongoing work to align the global climate effort with the 1.5 degrees limit (as agreed to at COP28), the preparation of the next NDCs due in February 2025, and what the research introduced at this event means for the already diminished remaining carbon budget.
Participants will be invited to discuss what is needed – both in terms of scientific advances, but also policy ambition– to keep the Paris process on track.
This event will take place both in person at COP29, as well as streamed on the UNFCCC YouTube livestream page.
