Paul Elkins, professor of energy and environment policy at King’s College London, explained that the cost of various levels of carbon reduction up to 80 per cent would mean an annual global economic growth of three per cent.
” GDP by 2030 is quite a large sum of money, but what it basically means in a global economy growing by three per cent a year is that it will meet the level of GDP in 2031 it would otherwise have met in 2030,” he said.
“That may or may not be considered an acceptable price to make a significant difference to climate change.”
According to a report from the Confederation of British Industries, experts forecast that the four main areas where low-carbon technology will deliver the most carbon reduction will be building, energy production, transport and industrial processes.