Economic growth 'cannot continue'

Continuing global economic growth “is not possible” if nations are to tackle climate change, a report by an environmental think-tank has warned.

The New Economics Foundation (Nef) said “unprecedented and probably impossible” carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2C (3.6F).

In the report, Growth Isn’t Possible, the authors looked at the main models for climate change and energy use in the global economy.

They then considered whether economic growth could be maintained while “retaining a good likelihood” of limiting the global average temperature to within 2C of pre-industrial levels.

The report concluded that a growth rate of just 3%, the “carbon intensity” of the global economy would need to fall by 95% by 2050 from 2002 levels. This would require an average annual reduction of 6.5%.

However, the authors said that the world’s carbon intensity had “flatlined” between 2000 and 2007.

“For each year the target was missed, the necessary improvements would grow higher still,” they observed.

The findings also suggested that there was no proven technological advance that would allow “business as usual” to continue.

BBC