Usually environmental tipping points have negative connotations, such as the degradation of coral reefs, but researcher Professor Tim Lenton from the Global Systems Institute (GSI) and the University of Exeter has suggested ”triggering positive tipping points is now the only credible way to limit global warming”.
Clean electricity and storage is the technology that is most likely to create the change needed as it would bring down the cost of other clean technologies and enable faster transition to zero-emission vehicles as well as heating appliances, while also reducing air pollution.
A research fellow at the University of Exeter, Steve Smith, said: “The cascade of clean energy that we’re seeing now is just doing so much more than anybody expected even 10 years ago.”
There is a need for co-operation among the transport, power and heating sectors to speed up the impact of the tipping points and globally this could be more difficult, especially in less developed nations.
Another change that could quickly impact global emissions is the trade in global commodities. Currently a small number of large corporations control the trade of beef, soy, palm oil, timber, cocoa and coffee. With effort, these companies could enable standards that would reduce forest destruction.
Cutting methane emissions from faulty pipelines and other faults is a very quick way to control global warming and it is now simpler to spot areas where methane emissions are high and put pressure on to repair leaks. To see an interesting video on how cutting methane emissions has been made simpler using satellite images, see this video.
Previous research by the GSI had cited regulatory mandates as having the biggest impact on adoption of policies. The report recommended the following four mandates as the most likely to cause positive tipping points:
Phasing out coal power by 2035 for developed countries and 2045 for developing countries
Increasing sales of heat pumps, to reach 100% by 2035
Rising proportion of zero emission car sales to reach 100% by 2035
Zero emission truck sales in the same way to reach 100% by 2045
References
Pearce, M. (2026) ‘Climate solutions most likely to reach “positive tipping points” revealed by scientists’, The Guardian, 10 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/10/climate-crisis-tipping-points-energy-environment-report (Accessed: 15 September 2026).
Gayle, D. and correspondent, D.G.E. (2024) ‘Create “positive tipping points” with climate mandates, governments urged’, The Guardian, 23 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/23/create-positive-tipping-points-climate-mandates-governments-urged (Accessed: 10 September 2026).
