The Net-Zero America project
Project Description
An increasing number of companies and governments around the world are pledging to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in the face of mounting risks from global climate change. Given its technological, financial, and natural resource endowments, the United States is well-placed to lead by example. The Net-Zero America transition scenarios aim to inform U.S. policy and investment decisions around achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Comprehensive national-level modeling is used to define a diversity of technological pathways that would achieve net-zero emissions. Subsequent analysis is quantifying the scale and cost of physical assets, institutional change, and human-resource efforts for all sectors over time. A high level of spatial definition helps to illustrate the extraordinary scale, geographic impact, and pace of changes needed to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. Significant challenges and potential bottlenecks are implied, and provide a focus for future research to understand how best to address transition inhibitors.
- Read the report and explore the data
Data site: netzeroamerica.princeton.edu - Download the Net-Zero America report
(PDF file, 345 pages, 81MB) - Download the Net-Zero America final report summary
- Mission Net-Zero America: The nation-building path to a prosperous, net-zero emissions economy
Commentary published in Joule (November 2021) - Accelerating decarbonization of the U.S. energy system (2021)
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine interactive report - Net-Zero America: in the news
A roundup of stories and articles from major news outlets
Researchers
Eric Larson; Jesse Jenkins; Chris Greig; Steve Pacala; Rob Socolow; Robert Williams; Erin Mayfield; Andrew Pascale; Chuan Zhang; Joshua Drossman; Rick Duke; Rich Birdsey; Keith Paustian; Amy Swan; Emily Leslie; EJ Baik; Ryan Jones; Ben Haley
Additional Resources
- From ambition to reality: weaving the threads of net-zero delivery
Worley - Can America reach net-zero emissions?
VERGE Net Zero (video) - The number of lives that clean energy could save, by U.S. state
Yale Climate Connections - Carbon pricing in the real world
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and the Niskanen Center (webinar) - Net-Zero America with Eric Larson and Jesse Jenkins
Clean Energy States Alliance (webinar) - Princeton researchers at forefront of national plans for technological and social transition to net-zero emissions
High Meadows Environmental Institute - Big but affordable effort needed for America to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Princeton study shows
Environment Half Century, Princeton University - Net-Zero America YouTube playlist
Princeton University - Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems expert, selected to investigate accelerating u.s. decarbonization for national academies study
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment - Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) annual report: Net-Zero America: finding pathways to a carbon-neutral future
Carbon Mitigation Initiative (pdf page) - Getting to zero: Can America transition to a net-zero emissions energy system?
Center for Policy Research in Energy and the Environment - The Net-Zero America project: finding pathways to a carbon-neutral future
High Meadows Environmental Institute