Greening the Global Economy

The Climate-Change Challenge

Humanity risks terrible trauma and loss if it fails to confront the significant dilemma of climate change. Human consumption of fossil fuels leads to greenhouse gas emissions, so humanity must consume less. In 2012, the world emitted approximately 45 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming and climate change. These consisted “mostly of carbon dioxide (CO₂), along with smaller amounts of methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that to maintain the “global average temperature “at 60.3°F, policymakers must ensure that greenhouse gas emissions fall 40% by 2035 and 80% by 2050. In 2012, approximately 80% of world energy supply came from consumption of fossil fuels: “oil, coal and natural gas.” If the global economy continues to use these practices, emissions will increase.

Scientists don’t agree on what would happen if the world failed to curb greenhouse gas emissions. They broadly concur that the consequences could include heat waves and more turbulent weather. Global warming could cause “famine, disease, mass emigrations ...