To meet commonly discussed abatement paths, carbon productivity must increase from approximately $740 GDP per ton of CO2e today to $7,300 GDP per ton of CO2e by 2050—a tenfold increase. This is comparable in magnitude to the labor productivity increases of the Industrial Revolution. However, the "carbon revolution" must be achieved in one-third of the time that economic transformation took in the Industrial Revolution if we are to maintain current growth levels while keeping CO2e levels below 500 parts per million by volume (ppmv), a level that many experts believe is the maximum that can be allowed without significant risks to the climate.
That's a heckuva lot. Again, we need to consider what is the cost of doing nothing and compare it to the cost of doing something. The IBD editorial says this increase in CO2 efficiency/use is necessary to maintain our standard of living. I know what their saying, but I wonder if standard of living is the right word. The research says it is necessary to maintain economic growth. To me, that says to maintain the level of increases in the standard of living. And I think it's important to add that it should be regarded as a global increase in the standard of living. And all of that says nothing about our actual ability to achieve the carbon emission goals.
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