Why decarbonisation is so hard

ACCORDING to research from the International Monetary Fund, the benefits of global decarbonisation would amount to US$85 trillion in net value. Carbon emissions represent a massive cost not just to the environment, but to the economy as well. The data is clear that the potential gains associated with reducing emissions are enormous.

Yet, decarbonisation efforts worldwide remain woefully inadequate. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that annual greenhouse gas emissions averaged 56 gigatons in the 2010s.

A report from McKinsey estimated that fully replacing coal with renewables would require a fivefold increase in the number of wind turbines and eight times more solar panels than are currently being installed per year.