New ”carbon revolution” urged to slow warming

OSLO (Reuters) – The world needs a shift as radical as the Industrial Revolution to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while safeguarding economic growth, the McKinsey Global Institute said on Thursday.

It said in a study that a modern “carbon revolution” to curb global warming would require a tenfold rise by 2050 in the level of economic output for every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted, mainly by burning fossil fuels.

“This is comparable in magnitude to the labor productivity increases of the Industrial Revolution,” a 48-page report said. The institute is the economic research arm of consultants McKinsey & Co.

It estimated that the world needed to produce $7,300 of gross domestic product (GDP) for every tonne of carbon dioxide emitted by 2050, up from a carbon productivity rate of $740 now.

Reuters