MCC scientists contribute to UNEP Gap Report

Jan Steckel, Sabine Fuss and Jan Minx were appointed lead author and contributing authors for an assessment also adressing coal use as well as carbon removal.

Emissions gap 2 degree target

Photo: UNEP

18.07.2017

Three leading scientists from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) will play an important role in the next “Gap Report” by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This assessment of the emissions gap between anticipated emission levels in 2030 compared to levels consistent with a target of well below 2°C is published every year. The next report will be available at the end of September 2017.

The UNEP appointed Jan Steckel, head of the MCC Working Group Climate and Development, to be the Lead Author of the chapter “Phasing out coal“. In the past, Steckel has done extensive research on the topic. He published, for example, “Drivers for the renaissance of coal” in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS). 

Jan Minx, head of the MCC Working Group Applied Sustainability Science, and Sabine Fuss, head of the MCC Working Group Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change, were appointed as contributing authors in the assessment’s chapter on „carbon dioxide removal“. Both have done extensive research on negative emission technologies.