A gigaton is a thousand million tons. According to a recent report by McKinsey, we in the United States emitted 7.2 gigatons of CO2 in 2005 and will be emitting 9.7 gigatons by 2030. I’m not so good at math, but I know that’s alot.
Luckily, that same McKinsey report has some good news as well. Their analysis indicates that through “coordinated, economy wide action,” we could reduct our emissions in that same time 3-4.5 gigatons. According to the report, 40% of that abatement would actually have negative marginal costs, meaning that reducing them would actually produce positive economic returns!
My lesson here is that we have reason to be hopeful - if we “combine durable policies and a slate of strong near-term actions that mobilize economic sectors,” real, substantial gains are possible! So let’s all get to work! Look for more posts in the coming days about how to get those policies changed!
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