Electricity, transport, and heating together account for 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, and are the priority for governments and businesses working to cut carbon emissions in line with their Paris Agreement obligations. However, reaching net-zero emissions also requires efforts directed at the remaining emissions.
The 'Final 25 per cent' of emissions refers to the remaining 20 per cent of emissions contributed by sectors such as agriculture, cement, waste, and plastics, in addition to the extraction of at least 5 per cent equivalent from the atmosphere to account for unavoidable emissions. These emitters come from a wide range of greenhouse gas emitters, making them trickier targets than, for instance, large centralised power stations.
Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment has published findings from its 'Final 25 per cent' project, which calls on experts to lay out roadmaps of investment in pursuit of net-zero emissions...