PNNL

Abstract

We thank XYZ et al. for their comments on our study (“Can updated climate pledges limit warming well below 2°C?”, 5 November, p. 693). While in principle, we agree with XYZ et al. on most of the issues raised, we note that several issues pertain to the broader policy discourse surrounding international climate negotiations and countries’ climate pledges rather than the modeling conducted in the Ou and Iyer et al. study. Foremost, we disagree with XYZ et al. that the updated 2021 pledges result in negligible global emission reductions. However, we agree with XYZ et al. that the updated pledges could paint a rather optimistic picture of the future – especially if combined with the assumption that deeper reductions could be postponed to the future.