07 November 2011

PwC UK on Decarbonization

Pricewaterhouse Cooper's has an excellent new report out that looks at trends and projections in decarbonization of the global and national economies. Those familiar with The Climate Fix will find much that is very familiar in this analysis.  Below are a few top line conclusions.

On the recarbonization of the global economy:
In the last 10 years, most countries have reduced the carbon intensity of their economies – albeit too slowly (at on average 0.7% per year). In 2010, however, this decarbonisation trend went into reverse.
On UK climate targets:
Scale of emissions reductions facing UK are now the equivalent to switching off power for three months every year to 2020
On the bottom line:
The results call  into question the current likelihood of  our global decarbonisation ever  happening rapidly enough to avoid 2 degrees of global warming. But 2011 has  thrown up a second challenge as well.  The events of the Arab Spring have  shown the social, economic and political  necessity of delivering not just low  carbon growth, but growth that delivers  on the basic needs, including power, of  the billions at the bottom of the pyramid.
You can download the report here. (Note: I do have a question about the accuracy of their 2010 Australian emissions data which I will ask the authors about.)