Coming days before the make-or-break conference in Bali on climate change, the message this report sends out is that the world has less than a decade to change course. Dangerous climate change, it warns, will be unavoidable if in the next 15 years emissions follow the same trend as in the past 15 years.

To avoid a catastrophic impact, says the report, the rise in global temperature must be limited to 2 degrees Celsius. To do that, the world needs to spend 1.6 per cent of global economic output annually through 2030 to stabilise the carbon stock. Rich countries, the biggest carbon emitters, should lead the way and cut emissions at least 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. Developing nations should cut emissions 20 per cent by 2050, states the report.

Cuts in developing countries have to be funded by the rich. “You can’t go to a country like India from the European Union — in India we have 400 million people without access to electricity and a carbon footprint which is one-twelfth of that in the European Union. For developing countries it will only be possible to mitigate if rich countries create the financial and technological incentives for that to happen,” said Watkins.

The report recommends a series of measures, including improved energy efficiency for appliances and cars, taxes or caps on emissions, and the ability to trade allowances to emit more.

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