“If every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energy technologies, that would cost $25 billion a year, and it would do a lot more than massive carbon cuts to fight warming and save lives.” IfsYearsCountryFightingEnergyTechnologyCuttingCostCommittedSpendingBillionsMassiveCentsCarbonGdpSave A Life Author:Bjorn Lomborg
“We will move to a low-carbon world because nature will force us, or because policy will guide us. If we wait until nature forces us, the cost will be astronomical.” IfsWorldMovingForceWaitingNaturePolicyCostLowsClimateGuidesCarbon Author:Christiana Figueres
“I don't think you can pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere indefinitely and not have a reaction. But there are great scientists such as Freeman Dyson, one of the greatest physicists of the last hundred years, who has studied the question, who believes quite the opposite. The reason transnational action is so difficult is because the major problem with climate change is, A, that there is no consensus, and, B, that the economic cost is simply staggering. Reversing it completely might mean undoing the modern industrial economy.” ThinkingYearsBelieveMeanReasonProblemMightActionLastsDifficultEconomyEconomicModernCostMajorsHundredOppositesScientistClimateClimate ChangeReactionsAtmosphereCarbonPhysicistConsensusPumpsStaggeringCarbon DioxideFreemanUndoingGreat ScientistMajor Problems Author:Charles Krauthammer
“Setting an aggressive enough carbon-reduction goal will result in an appropriate price for carbon and will help many a renewable technology. Consumer education will help. Most importantly, though, will be the continually declining cost trajectory of the real breakthrough in clean-technology costs driven by research and innovation. In the end, private capital is the real barometer of change.” RealEndsEnoughHelpingGoalResultsTechnologyCostResearchInnovationCleanDrivenSettingSettingsConsumersAppropriateAggressiveCarbonBreakthroughReductionTrajectoryBarometerResearch And Innovation Author:Vinod Khosla
“If coal wants a place in a carbon-constrained future, they have to look at technology like this. And we think that our rule can help stimulate technology, growth, and innovation, bring those costs down, and allow coal a more stable opportunity to continue to be invested in.” IfsThinkingWantLooksHelpingOpportunityGrowthTechnologyCostInnovationDown AndStableCarbonCoal Author:Gina McCarthy
“1.5 billion people lack proper access to electricity. Many buy kerosene, which can cost 30 percent of their income. It sends millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. And often the lamp will fall over and catch the house on fire. So mothers hate it, but it's their only option.” PeopleYearsMotherHateFallHouseMillionsFireCostPercentAccessBillionsIncomeAtmosphereElectricityCarbonLampsCarbon DioxideMetrics Author:Jacqueline Novogratz
“The overarching goal of Tesla is to help reduce carbon emissions and that means low cost and high volume. We will also serve as an example to the auto industry, proving that the technology really works and customers want to buy electric vehicles.” WantMeanHelpingGoalTechnologyExampleIndustryCostProveLowsCustomersVehicleElectricVolumeCarbonEmissionsTeslaCarbon EmissionsAuto IndustryElectric Vehicles Author:Elon Musk
“Subsidies for the oil, gas and coal industries are projected to cost taxpayers more than $135 billion in the coming decade. At a time when scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic climate change, it is absurd to provide massive subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies' already enormous profits.” NeedsCompanyIndustryCostScientistClimateClimate ChangeProfitOilDecadesBillionsEnormousAbsurdFuelGasMassivePollutionCarbonCoalFossilsTaxpayersFossil FuelPadsSubsidies Author:Bernie Sanders
“The fossil fuel industry for too long has shifted enormous costs of carbon pollution onto the public.” LongIndustryCostEnormousFuelPollutionCarbonFossilsFossil Fuel Author:Bernie Sanders
“I do remain optimistic that one day the world will realise that carbon dioxide is more of a friend than an enemy to the earth's flora and fauna, and I do seriously believe that, given the extraordinary complexity of the natural forces controlling our climate, which have done so for millions of years, the only sensible policy response to the natural process of climate change is prudent and cost-effective adaptation.” WorldYearsBelieveDoneEarthGivenForceProcessNaturalEnemyMillionsPolicyOne DayCostClimateResponseExtraordinaryClimate ChangeOptimisticComplexityRealisingSensibleCarbonAdaptationPrudentCarbon DioxideFloraFlora And Fauna Author:Nick Minchin
“If you choose to make regulations about carbon dioxide, that's OK. You as a state can do that; you have a right to do it. But it's not going to do anything about the climate. And it's going to cost, there's no doubt about that."” IfsStatesCan DoDoubtCostClimateNo DoubtYou ChooseRegulationCarbonCarbon Dioxide Author:John Christy
“If you really could take the CO2, when you burn hydrocarbons - coal, for example - if you could really capture the carbon and sequester it - they call it CCS - if the extra capital cost, energy cost, and storage costs over time didn't make it super expensive, then that's another path that you could go down.” IfsEnergyPathExampleCostExtrasExpensiveCaptureCarbonCoalStorageCo2Hydrocarbons Author:Bill Gates
“We need a price on carbon that accurately reflects its real costs on our society and our wellbeing.” NeedsRealCostOur SocietyCarbonWellbeing Author:Katharine Hayhoe
“There would be a cost for dumping carbon into our atmosphere and a cap on total emissions. The government must make a clear and firm decision - terminating the idea in our society it is free to pump infinite amounts of carbon into the air. Once that happens, private capital will flow even more aggressively into developing and deploying the alternative, less-polluting technologies.” IdeasGovernmentHappensWould BeDecisionTechnologyClearAirAmountCostFlowInfiniteAlternativesDevelopingAtmosphereFirmOur SocietyCarbonCapsEmissionsPumpsDeployingFirm Decisions Author:Van Jones
“The question is: do we pay a little bit more now? Or do we pay a whole lot later? For the equivalent of a postage stamp a day for each American, we can put a price on carbon today that will send a signal to private capital to invest in the clean technologies of tomorrow. Taking a vast portfolio of new energy solutions to scale will ultimately drive down costs through competition.” LittlesWholeTodayEnergyBitsPayTechnologyTomorrowCostLittle BitSolutionsCompetitionCleanScalesCarbonSignalsStampsPortfoliosNew EnergyPostagePostage Stamps Author:Van Jones
“The irony is that one of the things people want to solve climate change is more market - more price on carbon so that markets have something to chew on when they think about climate change instead of the complete monopoly, the absurdity of allowing these guys to own the sky for free - socialise all of the costs and privatise all of the profits.” PeopleThinkingWantGuySkyCostClimateClimate ChangeProfitSolveIronyAllowingCarbonAbsurdityMonopoly Author:Bill McKibben
“Every company that manufactures something is causing some damage either to the soil or water or air. Most companies treat these as externalities. But the growing movement of sustainability calls for companies to internalize these costs. Once companies do this, they will have a strong incentive to reduce their carbon footprint.” StrongWaterCompanyGrowingAirMovementCostTreatsDamageSoilSustainabilityCarbonIncentivesFootprintCarbon FootprintExternalities Author:Philip Kotler