Cost Of Limiting Climate Damage - One Year's Economic Growth - Guardian

[hatrack]

The world would have to give up only one year's economic growth over the next four decades to reduce carbon emissions sufficiently to stave off the threat of global warming, a report says today.

Consultants at PricewaterhouseCoopers offer a "green growth plus" strategy, combining energy efficiency, greater use of renewables and carbon capture to cut emissions by 60% by 2050 from the level reached by doing nothing. Nuclear energy, it says, can play a role, but it is not crucial.

EDIT

PwC envisages the Group of Seven leading economies taking the initiative, cutting their emissions by about half by 2050, while the fast-growing E7 countries - China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey - could still increase their emissions by 30% over the period. "If this is to be achieved it will take further concerted action by governments, businesses and individuals over a broad range of measures to boost energy efficiency, adopt a greener fuel mix and introduce carbon capture and storage technologies in power plants and other major industrial facilities," Mr Hawksworth said.

The report says a combination of all these measures will be necessary to stabilise global CO2 levels at 450 parts per million, the figure scientific opinion judges to be broadly acceptable. The PwC projections see China overtaking the United States as the world's biggest emitter of CO2 by 2010 while total E7 emissions would be more than double G7 emissions by 2050, with the "big three" - China, the US and India - accounting for just over half, up from 45% today.

EDIT

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1883753,00.html

[nam78_two]

1. recommended/nt

[Deja Q]

2. If it's only that little, it's not unreasonable to have everybody help

[mom cat]

8. Lose one penny of profits? The world be damned!

:sarcasm: obviously.

[Arger68]

K & R

:kick:

[AlGore-08.com]

3. K & R

eom

[YankeyMCC]

4. I'm glad to see this work yet

I'm sure this will be framed as a 'tax' by the neocons and corp-establishment. The problem is the powers that be simply don't believe in addressing community (in this case the global community) through community effort.

But hey at least it's being pointed out, people need to agitate for it or made to see the benefit of agitating for it.

BTW: This tidbit was nice to see too:
"...increasing energy efficiency gains to 2.6% a year from today's 1.6% would reduce emissions by a third,..."

[kestrel91316]

5. Corporations: WAAAHHHHHH!!!! But we don't WANT to give

up any of our profits!!!!!!! WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Bunch of babies.

[glitch]

6. Greedheads won't even limit one minute's economic growth.

That's the way of cancer, keep consuming til the body's ravaged.

Edit: forgot to add K & R

[phantom power]

7. Recommended, but I would quibble...

that the threat of global warming can no longer be staved off. However, we still get to make the important choice of how bad it will be.

I hope.