Assignment of Carbon Budgets at Regional Level: the PLEDGES Model

Current decarbonization policies mainly focus on emission reduction targets. However, achieving Net Zero while keeping the limit of global warming to 2°C requires assessing a carbon budget, i.e. a limit on global cumulative carbon that can be emitted by 2050. This is estimated as a planetary budget, but it needs to be shared among countries to allow the transition from cutting emissions targets to the governance of domestic cumulative emissions. PLEDGES aims to provide policymakers with a tool able to downscale the world’s remaining carbon budget to national levels, as, at present, regional carbon budgeting is still a very limited practice in Europe and around the world. Based on an effort-sharing approach, PLEDGES can allocate an allowance of carbon emissions to each region, country, or even economic sector. Once a potential carbon budget is calculated, the PLEDGES tool will simulate necessary deviations from the assumed national quotas and evaluate how those deviations impact and can be traded the other countries with the aim of not surpassing the assigned budget.