A report compiled by the WWF and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CPD) has found that by cutting its emissions by an average of three percent a year, the US corporate sector could save as much as $780 billion over the next 10 years.
Companies would only need to spend around three to four percent of their capital expenditure each year in order to achieve such emission reductions.
Lowering emissions by three percent a year until 2020 would be the equivalent of cutting annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 gigatonnes by 2020, equivalent to a 25 percent reduction compared to 1990 levels, and in line with the reduction that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says is needed in order to keep global average temperature increases less than two degrees by the end of the decade.
Related article: As Climate Change Worsens, US Corn Ethanol becomes Uneconomical
The report claims if businesses wait until 2012 to make changes and invest in projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and still hope to reduce emissions enough to be in line with levels scientists have stated must be achieved by 2050, they would have to make cuts of 10 percent a year; a far more expensive proposition.
Paul Simpson, the CEO of CDP, said that "corporations must act now not only to address environmental risk, but also to aid economic recovery in the US and build resilience. Investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy saves cost, stimulates innovation, creates jobs and builds energy independence and security."
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More