A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF CARBON-DIOXIDE MITIGATION OPTIONS

The purpose of this paper is to place the potential needs to control global carbon dioxide emissions in perspective. In order to limit carbon dioxide levels in the earth's atmosphere to no more than twice pre-anthropogenic levels, it will be necessary to limit carbon emissions to approximately 10 gigatons per year by 2050. The implications of such a constraint to the developed countries, developing countries, and international community are assessed. It is clear that international priorities must be established and specific approaches developed in the first quarter of the 21st century to define the necessary, minimum-cost mitigation strategies. Because of the complexity of establishing a meaningful policy approach, imposition of an arbitrary carbon tax is unlikely to provide the constraints necessary to achieve a satisfactory earth atmosphere-carbon dioxide equilibrium state.