Why Does the World Move Toward Carbon Neutrality?

Abstract

　The international community has agreed through the Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to less than 2 °C above the pre-industrial level. In recent years, many targets with carbon-neutrality as the keyword have been announced. The realization of carbon-neutrality is much more ambitious than the Kyoto Protocol-based climate change countermeasures, and will necessitate major shifts in social structure. Nevertheless, even economic organizations organized by corporations have been announcing that they will cooperate with carbon-neutral goals rather than oppose them. This study investigates the past trends by particularly addressing on the progress of climate science, the economic policies of various countries, the efforts of corporations and investors, and the activities of NGOs, etc. Furthermore, this study clarifies the background to elucidate why the world is moving toward carbon-neutrality from a broad perspective. The literature review confirmed that climate science progress has influenced the international agreement, and that development of new countermeasures such as TCFD, which requests private enterprises to open their climate risk information, has encouraged the carbon-neutral movement. In the private sector, climate risk reduction and economic benefits are linked through TCFD, suggesting a paradigm shift in the awareness of the parties involved that climate change measures are “no longer a social contribution but are necessary for their own survival”. Along with the supports of these changes in social conditions, the international community is thought to have moved toward carbon-neutrality.