Low Carbon Economy Index 2015: conscious uncoupling?
PwC’s 7th annual Low Carbon Economy Index (LCEI) tracks the rate that G20 countries are decarbonising their economies. This year PwC also looked at the ambition of their national targets (or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions – INDCs). Are they adequate in terms of delivering the decarbonisation required to limit warming to 2°C?. The report is entitled Conscious Uncoupling as it describes the fall in carbon intensity across the G20 and rise in GDP. In his foreword PwC Partner on Sustainability and Climate Change Leo Johnson says: “For the first year in the seven since the Index began, we have what looks like the uncoupling of growth and emissions; GDP grew by 3.3% in 2014, with energy emissions up by only 0.5%. And the stage is set for national commitments in Paris in December 2015 to drive the rate of decarbonisation even further. The pledges made to date, according to the 2015 LCEI analysis, would drive the decarbonisation rate from now to 2030 up to 3% per year.”