Cutting carbon will grow US economy
A national policy to cut carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent over the next 20 years could still result in increased economic growth in the US
Researchers at Yale University working with interactive website EurekAlert! reviewed 25 leading economic models and showed that GDP would increase by around 3 per cent per year if dramatic carbon cutting measures were adopted across the country.
Among the key optimistic assumptions are that renewable energy technologies will be available at stable or increasing prices; that higher fossil fuel prices will stimulate energy-saving technological change; that cutting US carbon emissions will reduce economic damage caused by climate change and air pollution; and that the country will incorporate international trading of emission permits into its national policy.
GDP has been rising at around 3 per cent per year over recent decades and, with emissions reduced by 40 per cent below projected business-as-usual trends, even under most pessimistic assumptions it would still grow at 2.4 per cent a year, reaching $23 trillion by 2030, according to the website.
Under the most favourable assumptions, GDP would rise slightly above 3 percent a year.
Source: Yale University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.