Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40127265›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Using net-zero carbon debt to track climate overshoot responsibility.

Setu Pelz, Gaurav Ganti, Robin Lamboll, Luke Grant, Chris Smith, Shonali Pachauri, Joeri Rogelj, Keywan Riahi, Wim Thiery, Matthew J Gidden

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  5. Using net-zero carbon debt to track climate overshoot responsibility.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Setu PelzInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-3528-8679
Gaurav GantiInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-6638-4076
Robin LambollCentre for Environmental Policy, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London SW72AZ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-8410-037X
Luke GrantDepartment of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-0636-2806
Chris SmithInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.ORCID 0000-0003-0599-4633
Shonali PachauriInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-8138-3178
Joeri RogeljInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.ORCID 0000-0003-2056-9061
Keywan RiahiInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.
Wim ThieryDepartment of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Matthew J GiddenInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Energy Climate and Environment Program, Laxenburg A-2361, Austria.

Funding

EC | ERC | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) 101056873EC | ERC | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) 101081521EC | ERC | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) 51542-GENIE-ERC-2020-SyG
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Current emissions trends will likely deplete a 1.5 °C consistent carbon budget around the year 2030, resulting in at least a temporary exceedance, or overshoot. To clarify responsibilities for this budget exceedance, we consider "net-zero carbon debt," a forward-looking measure of the extent to which a party is expected to breach its "fair share" of the remaining budget by the time it achieves net-zero carbon emissions. We apply this measure to all vetted mitigation scenarios assessed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report and two scenarios that model current policies and pledges, using an illustrative equal per capita allocation of a remaining 1.5 °C carbon budget starting in 1990. The resulting regional carbon debt estimates inform i) the scale and pace of regional carbon drawdown obligations necessary to address budget exceedance and ii) relative regional responsibilities for increased lifetime exposure to extreme heatwaves across age cohorts due to budget exceedance. Our work strengthens intergenerational equity considerations within an international climate equity discourse and informs the implementation of effort-sharing mechanisms that persist beyond the exhaustion of a rapidly dwindling remaining carbon budget.

Indexed as

carbon debtimpactsintergenerational equityinterregional equityovershoot

Identifiers

PMID40127265
PMCPMC12002226

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.