Earth Equity News

International Industry Consultants Urge 'Carbon Revolution'. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, June 26, 2008. "The world needs a shift as radical as the Industrial Revolution to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while safeguarding economic growth, the McKinsey Global Institute said on Thursday. It said in a study that a modern 'carbon revolution' to curb global warming would require a tenfold rise by 2050 in the level of economic output for every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted, mainly by burning fossil fuels. 'This is comparable in magnitude to the labour productivity increases of the Industrial Revolution,' a 48-page report [PDF] said... It estimated that the world needed to produce $7,300 of gross domestic product (GDP) for every tonne of carbon dioxide emitted by 2050, up from a carbon productivity rate of $740 now. 'Increasing carbon productivity tenfold in less than 50 years will be one of the greatest tests humankind has ever faced. But both history and economics give us confidence it can be done,' it said. Most technologies were already available, ranging from better building insulation to cleaner coal generation, to axe world emissions of greenhouse gases by 64 percent by 2050, or to 20 billion tonnes a year from 55 billion in 2008, it said."