GHG Emissions

Next month the world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to address climate change.

The scientists who believe man-made GHG emissions are a threat to the environment, suggest a safe carbon-dioxide limit in the atmosphere might be around 360 parts per million. Achieving this limit would impact too significantly on our way of living, as we would need to cut back fuel consumption too drastically.

The International Energy Agency released their 2009 World Energy Outlook November 10, 2009. The IEA states that a 450ppm CO2 limit can be achieved by 2030. The 450 scenario would keep the global temperature rise at around 2 Centigrade above pre-industrial levels. The IEA states that to achieve this scenario, fossil-fuel demand would need to peak by 2020 and energy related carbon-dioxide emissions to fall to 26.4 gigatonnes in 2030 from 28.8Gt in 2007.

To achieve this, the IEA estimates cumulative incremental investments of $10.5 trillion is needed in the 450 scenario in low-carbon energy technology and energy efficiencies by 2030. These investments costs would be offset by economic, health and energy-security benefits. On the other hand, each year of delay adds $ 500 billion to mitigation costs between today and 2030.