Carbon pollution would have to be cut by 45 per cent by 2030 – compared with a 20 per cent cut under the 2C pathway – and come down to zero by 2050, compared with 2075 for 2C. This would require carbon prices that are three to four times higher than for a 2C target. But the costs of doing nothing would be far higher.
The Guardian’s extraordinary Defenders project recorded the deaths of people around the world fighting to save the planet. Here, the series’ lead writer remembers their stories.