PricewaterhouseCoopers Endorses "Green Growth Plus"

The economic growth of China, India, and other emerging economies threatens serious long-term implications for Earth’s climate, concluded a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC, the world’s largest professional services firm. “The World in 2050” presents six possible approaches to growth but focuses on two: business as usual and “Green Growth Plus.” In the business-as-usual scenario, carbon emissions more than double current levels by 2050, causing high risks of severe climate change and socioeconomic effects. In Green Growth Plus, however, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels stabilize near 450 parts per million, the cap recommended by many prominent climatologists, by 2050. This plan calls for using nuclear and renewable energy sources to meet 30% of the world’s primary energy supply, speeding energy efficiency reductions from the recent trend of 1.6% per year to 2.6% per year, and capturing and sequestering 1.5 gigatons of carbon each year (about 20% of total emissions) by 2050. The full report is online at www.pwc.com (click on “connectedthinking” and then “publications”).