DECC launches on-line tool that shows world can cut carbon and live well
Wed 28 January 2015
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The Department for Energy and Climate Change has launched an on-line Global Calculator tool which shows that living standards can be improved at the same time as cutting carbon emissions sufficiently to limit the risk of temperatures rising by more than two degrees. Built in collaboration with international organisations from the US, China, India and Europe, the calculator is an interactive tool for businesses, NGOs and governments to consider the options for cutting carbon emissions and the trade-offs for energy and land use to 2050.
Launching the tool, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said: “For the first time this Global Calculator shows that everyone in the world can prosper while limiting global temperature rises to 2°C, preventing the most serious impacts of climate change.
“Yet the calculator is also very clear that we must act now to change how we use and generate energy and how we use our land if we are going to achieve this green growth."
The project was led by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and co-funded by Climate-KIC.
Using data reviewed by over 150 international experts, the free and interactive tool shows that despite expectations that the world’s population will rise from 7 billion currently to 10 billion by 2050, it is physically possible for everyone to have a good standard of living while limiting global temperature rises to 2°C.
DECC's press release says, however, that the tool shows that to be successful the world needs to act now and transform the technologies and fuels we use and make smarter use of our land for food, forestry and fuel.
For example the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of electricity globally would need to fall by at least 90% and our forests protected and expanded by 5-15% by 2050.
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