CIAO DATE: 07/2009
April 2009
Peterson Institute for International Economics
At the 2008 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, G-8 leaders called for a 50 percent global reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 to avoid “the most serious consequences of climate change.” Meeting this goal will require transforming the way energy is produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the economy and regions of the world. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the building sector alone will need to reduce annual emissions by 8.2 gigatons below business-as-usual by 2050, an amount equal to nearly one third of global emissions today (IEA 2008a). Improving energy efficiency in buildings is often heralded as the cheapest way to cut emissions, with a wealth of individual investment options available at negative cost.
Resource link: Energy Efficiency in Buildings: A Global Economic Perspective [PDF] - 140K