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Serious Climate Change report from PwC well worth a scan

Originally circulated to the Colwall Car Club:

The following has come to my attention, a new PriceWaterhouseCooper report shows the extremely serious extent of the climate change problem.  PwC are usually considered a very trustworthy source by Government and Business and in my experience are not prone to scare mongering. I think this report needs wide circulation to help people see the urgency of the task ahead and the exceptional effort that is now needed, the year’s of half hearted effort are making the possibility of successful resolution move from extremely difficult to almost impossible. The unpredictable weather events we/the world is already getting at 1 degree warming is very minor compared to what will happen if we go over 2 degrees.

A few numbers, by way of summary:

  • PWC estimates the required annual improvement in ‘global carbon intensity’ to meet a 2°C warming target has risen this year, to 5.1% each year, from now to 2050.
  • The 2011 rate of improvement in carbon intensity was 0.7%, giving an average rate of decarbonisation of 0.8% a year since 2000.  If the world continues to decarbonise at the rate since the turn of the millennium, there will be an emissions gap of approximately 12 GtCO2 by 2020, 30GtCO2 by 2030 and nearly 70GtCO2 by 2050, as compared to PWC’s 2-degree scenario.
  • Even doubling our current rate of decarbonisation would lead to emissions consistent with 6 degrees of warming by the end of the century. To give ourselves a more than 50% chance of avoiding 2 degrees will require a six-fold improvement in our rate of decarbonisation.
  • Businesses, governments and communities across the world need to plan for a warming world – not just 2°C, but 4°C, or even 6°C.

If you are shocked and what to find a way of upping your contribution to helping reduce your (or others) Carbon Footprint get in touch.

Robin Coates
01684 540284