Development without carbon: climate and the global economy through the 21st Century
Economic development and the eradication of energy poverty are increasingly seen as key components in a comprehensive strategy to prevent dangerous climate change, along with emission reductions and adaptation measures. But most climate economics models used to guide policymakers assume very little economic growth in the poorest countries. This report examines the implications of that assumption and finds that, taking developing countries' right to future emissions as a given, economic growth in the poorest countries would require their richer neighbors to reduce their own emissions far more sharply and also provide substantial funding for emission reductions in the developing world.