Planning to Succeed: How to build strong 2050 climate and energy development strategies

The importance and value of 2050 strategies that seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions while also ensuring well-being and prosperity have been acknowledged by policy makers, advocates, and businesses for many years. This recognition has seen a number of countries produce such strategies, which have become an important element in international climate agreements. However, there is no formal multi-lateral or international guidance as to what such strategies should contain or how they should be developed. While this is an important deficit that should be corrected, it is somewhat mitigated by a strong body of independent papers. This literature can, collectively, provide a helpful guide to the makers of these strategies because they uniformly identify a number of essential elements of a successful 2050 climate and energy development strategy.