The Price of Carbon goes beyond an assessment of the science of climate change and the impacts of excess emissions. The book details viable pathways to transition economic practices and evaluates the policies and climate action plans of the top emitting countries. If severe damage from climate change is to be avoided, advanced economies must up the level of ambition to curtail emissions while developing countries must follow low carbon pathways of economic growth.
THE LAST TRILLION TONNES¬
There remains less than 1 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide in a budget of future greenhouse gas emissions aligned with the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit surface warming. At present the global level of ambition to combat climate change is insufficient and average temperatures are projected to increase by 3-4°C over the course of this century.
The immense cost of inaction on our part will be borne by future generations as the planet warms, sea levels rise and oceans acidify, and the incidents and severity wildfires, floods, cyclones, droughts, heat waves, crop failures, famine, and climate change migration, conflict and loss of life and livelihood increase. Viable pathways to a sustainable future do exist. There is a brief window of opportunity to advance ambitions and strengthen policies. Applying a fraction of the future cost of climate change damage to progressively decarbonized global economies over the next 30 years is not only ethical but an exercise in common sense economics.
