Real Zero Statement
Real Zero means eliminating fossil fuels entirely. Real Zero is the only path that can reliably limit warming within the Paris Agreement’s guardrails.
Real Zero stands in contrast to Net Zero.
Net Zero has moved away from its original definition of substantially reducing fossil fuel use, to mean continuing to burn fossil fuels but claiming to “offset” the emissions.
Net Zero ignores the clear scientific evidence that offsets are ineffectual and hindering the energy transition.[1] It also assumes that the world can capture carbon from fossil fuels at scale and permanently store it underground, contrary to evidence.[2]
In addition, offsets based on natural carbon sinks do not take into account that these sinks are already weakening due to climate change – and are, at best, simply temporary.
Real Zero is far harder than Net Zero. But it is the only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts.
Based on current emissions and the global carbon budget, humanity would have to stop burning fossil fuels by 2030 to have a 50:50 chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C, and by 2040 for a 50:50 chance of staying well below 2°C.[3]
We therefore call on businesses and governments to adopt Real Zero targets immediately – and to publish transparent plans on how they will eliminate fossil fuels, well before 2040.
Add your name to pledge your support for Real Zero.
Signatories
Professor Michael Mann
Presidential Distinguished Professor, Director of Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, University of Pennsylvania
Professor Johan Rockstrom
Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam
Professor Li Zheng
Executive Vice President, Institute of Climate Change, Tsinghua University
Professor Nerilie Abram
Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and Deputy Director Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science
Professor Katrin Meissner
Director, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr Bill Hare
UN High Level Expert Group, Founder and CEO, Climate Analytics
Professor Tim Lenton
Climate Change/Earth System Science, Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, UK
Professor Steven Sherwood
Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
Dr Sylvia Earle
Ocean Elder
Professor Ollie Jay
Heat and Health, Director of the Heat and Health Research Incubator, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Australia
Professor Kevin Trenberth
Distinguished Scholar, US National Center for Atmospheric Research and Affiliate faculty University of Auckland, New Zealand
Dr Fahad Saeed
Heat and humidity effects; Regional Lead: South Asia and the Middle East, Climate Analytics
Professor Peter Huybers
Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
Dr Jonathan R. Buzan
Climate Physicist, Climate and Environmental Physics and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Switzerland
Professor Sagnik Dey
Institute Chair, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Professor Vidhya Venugopal
Country Director (NIHR GRC NCD-EC), Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Public Health, Sri Ramachandra Institute and Higher Education, Chennai, India
Professor Trevor McDougall
AC FRS FAA FAGU FRSN, Emeritus Scientia Professor of Ocean Physics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Australia
Professor Ambarish Dutta
Epidemiology Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar Public Health Foundation of India
Dr Amy Booth
Clinician and Researcher, Climate Change and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of OxfordDPhil Candidate, IRIHS Research Group
Professor Kurian Joseph
Director, Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management, Centre for Environmental Studies, Department of Civil Engineering, Anna University
Dr Andrew Forrest AO
Minderoo Foundation, Tattarang and Fortescue; Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia
Professor Ken Smith
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia
Dr Emma Ramsay
Humid heat in urban settlements, Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Professor Matthew England
Scientia Professor, Director of Research, Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Professor Srinivasan Keshav
FRCS, FACM, FIEEE, Robert Sansom Professor of Computer Science, University of Cambridge
Professor Callum Roberts
Marine Conservation, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick
Climate Scientist and Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, Australian National University
Dr Shanta Barley
Chief Climate Scientist, Fortescue; Adjunct Lecturer, The University of Western Australia
Professor Anjal Prakash
Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business
Professor Michael Ellwood
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University
Dr Laurence Wainwright
Departmental Lecturer & Course Director, Smith School of Enterprise & the Environment, University of Oxford
Emeritus Professor Sarah Dunlop
Minderoo Foundation and The University of Western Australia
Professor Jacob G. Foster
Informatics and Cognitive Science, Indiana University Bloomington, External Professor, Santa Fe Institute
Professor Alastair Iles
Sustainability Transitions Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management University of California, Berkeley
Dr Shannon A. Bonke
Research Fellow of King’s College Cambridge and Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
Professor Douglas McCauley
Director, Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, University of California Santa Barbara
Dr John Hunter
Climate and sea level scientist, University of Tasmania
Dr Vishal Dixit
Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
Professor Kamiar Mohaddes
Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Co-Director of University of Cambridge climaTRACES Lab
Professor Anne-Louise Ponsonby
Head, Neuroepidemiology Research Group, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Bodhi Patil
Youth Ambassador, Dept. Environment & Sustainability, University of British Columbia
Safiya Noble PhD
Professor and David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Dr Robert Glasser
Head of Climate and Security Policy Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Professor Michael Francis Good AO Duniv
Head, Laboratory of Vaccines for the Developing World, Principal Research Leader and NHMRC Investigator Fellow (L3), Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University
Associate Professor Anette Mikes
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Professor Ben Newell
Director of the Institute for Climate Risk & Response, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr Ramit Debnath
Assistant Professor, Cambridge Zero & Architecture
Dr Ronita Bardham
Associate Professor University of Cambridge, Director of Cambridge Sustainable Design Group
Associate Professor Jason Kai Wei Lee
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Professor Ulrich Ecker
Fellow of the UWA Public Policy Institute, The University of Western Australia
Dr Andrew King
Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, University of Melbourne
Baroness Bryony Worthington
Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, Deputy Chair of WWF-UK and Founder and Chair of Ember
Professor Daniel Pauly
University Killam Professor. Sea Around Us; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries & Department of Zoology
Daniel Wordsworth
Chief Executive Officer, World Vision Australia
Professor Rashid Sumaila
Director, Fisheries Economics Research Unit and the OceanCanada Partnership, University of British Columbia
Dr Tzeporah Berman
Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto
Professor Benjamin Franta
Associate Professor of Climate Litigation, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme, University of Oxford
Professor Michael Bunce
Otago University; Curtin University; Advisory Panel UWA Oceanomics Centre; former Chief Scientist, New Zealand
Dr Steve Burnell
Senior Research Fellow, Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia
Professor Tim Flannery
Australian of the Year 2007, Faculty of Science, Melbourne University
Dr Darian McBain
Visiting Professor in Practice, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science
Dr Russell Reichelt AO
Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Ocean Health and Sustainability. Queensland, Australia
Dr Marilyn Raphael
Director of UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Dr Dileep Mavalankar
Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar