Report Illuminates Weak Efforts to Reduce Carbon Intensity

The message of this year's PricewaterhouseCoopers "Low Carbon Economy Index" discussed how, with each year, the world is making it more difficult to avoid climate disaster. This "unmistakable trend" highlights how major economies around the world are failing to meet targets designated by the United Nations' 2009 climate summit to limit global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels. These targets help to avoid some of the more dire consequences of runaway warming.

As highlighted by Grist writer James West, the PricewaterhouseCoopers report states, "the gap between what we are doing and what we need to do has again grown, for the sixth year running." With the current levels of carbon intensity, we are projected to reach 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit of warming by 2100 — twice the agreed upon rate.

As Brad Plummer explains in a post on Vox, to lower carbon intensity, economies must "burn fewer fossil fuels to generate a dollar's worth of economic activity. Part of the reason for that is our cars, homes, power plants, and factories are all getting more efficient — we can do far more with a given amount of coal, oil, or natural gas than we used to." Although the United States has improved decarbonization by 2.4 percent per year from 2008, in part by the fracking boom replacing coal with natural gas, heroic steps must be taken by large economies throughout the world to ensure the future health of our planet.