The World in 2030

The World in 2030 149
a higher target to cut emissions based on the latest
scientific evidence. ’291
On May 4, 2007 the IPCC published its fourth report (and
for the present, final report – the next IPCC assessment
is due in six years) on climate change, ‘The Mitigation Of
Climate Change’. 292 This document spelled out how the
global community can tackle climate change.
The Economist commented:
Some greenhouse-gas emissions, as the IPCC points
out, can be cut at no cost at all—through straightforward
measures such as improving insulation and
binning wasteful incandescent light bulbs. Such
measures could both save people and companies
money, and save the planet from a chunk of carbon
emissions. At present, they don’t bother to do much,
because electricity bills are not threatening enough;
but governments might take a hand. The European
Commission, for instance, is planning to ban incandescent
light bulbs in two years’ time. Such measures
could make a difference, given that lighting accounts
for 17 per cent of global power consumption.
In other areas, low-carbon technologies would be more
expensive than conventional ones—but not necessarily
exorbitant. In power generation, for instance, the
biggest single source of carbon, the cost of wind and
solar power has fallen sharply over the past couple of
decades to the point where, in favourable locations,
wind power can compete, in price terms, with more