Ground-breaking carbon offset project will put population on the
Copenhagen agenda
Family planning is eight times cheaper* (please see addendum below for
reanalysis of this figure) as a way of tackling global warming
than solar power and four times less costly than wind power, according to
the sponsors of a radical new carbon offset initiative.
UK-based charity, the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), says its research
[1]
reflects the conclusions of the recently published UN Population Fund
report [2],
and will give added impetus to calls for the population issue to be to the
fore of the global environmental debate ahead of next week’s climate
summit in Copenhagen.
OPT is launching the PopOffsets project which has the backing of the
charity’s influential Patrons including naturalist and broadcaster Sir
David Attenborough, former diplomat Sir Crispin Tickell, as well as
leading environmental campaigners, Jonathon Porritt and Sara Parkin.
The project has a dedicated website,
www.popoffsets.com, enabling people to offset their carbon footprint
by making on-line donations to OPT to support family planning.
The impetus for the project was a major OPT research project showing that
meeting the otherwise unmet demand for family planning could be the most
cost effective means of achieving CO2 reductions.
OPT estimates every £4 spent on family planning saves one tonne of CO2. A
similar reduction would require an £8 investment in tree planting, £15 in
wind power, £31 in solar energy and £56 in hybrid vehicle technology.
The same broad conclusions have now been given authoritative endorsement
by the UN Population Fund report.
OPT
Director Roger Martin said: “It has been acknowledged for many years the
current level of human population growth is unsustainable and places acute
pressure on global resources. Human activity is exacerbating global
warming, and higher population levels inevitably mean higher emissions and
more climate change victims.”
“PopOffsets is an
original and radical initiative that understands this connection and
offers a practical and sensible response. For the first time ever
individuals, companies and organisations will have the opportunity to
offset their carbon voluntarily by supporting projects to provide family
planning services where there is currently unmet demand.”
The project’s sponsors have made it clear they are opposed to any
initiatives that advocate any form of coercion, with all potential
projects subject to a rigorous checkingprocess
- a pre-condition for financial support.
The PopOffsets launch is being timed to highlight the CO2 / population
link ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit which starts next week.
The campaign launch includes a targeted mailing graphically illustrating
the core PopOffsets message to UK government ministers and politicians,
policy makers and key influencers.
OPT Patron, Professor John Guillebaud said: “Politicians have evaded the
population dimension to global warming and now it’s vitally important
Copenhagen recognises this crucially important issue. The PopOffsets
initiative is evidence this can be done in a sensible, mature, practical
and compassionate way, by empowering people to make sustainable choices.”
Ends-
[1] The report Fewer
Emitters, Lower Emissions, Lest Cost: reducing carbon emissions by
investing in family planning was commissioned by OPT in
cooperation with LSE from MSc student Thomas Wire in July 2009. See:
www.optimumpopulation.org/reducingemissions.pdf
[2] The United Nations Population Fund report
Facing a Changing World:
Women, Population and Climate was published in November 2009.
See
www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/ |
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Let’s face the Facts of Life…
Without action
world population could hit 9 billion by 2050. Currently it’s 6.8 billion.
OPT warns the
earth may not be able to support half of the present population by 2099.
Population
levels are rising at a level equal to the creation of a new city of 1.5m
people EVERY week.
A YouGov poll
in 2009 shows 51% think 60m is the ideal population size for the UK.
OPT believes
the UK’s long-term sustainable population needs to be 30m. The last time
the UK had a population of 30m was in 1899.
First warnings
about population were in a Royal Commission report 60 years ago when the
UK population passed the 40million mark.
UK population
is projected to pass 70 million in 2029 and reach 77 million in 2050.
An estimated
80m conceptions a year are unwanted pregnancies.
OPT’s patrons
include naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, actress Susan
Hampshire and environmental campaigners Jonathon Porritt and Sara Parkin.
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*ADDENDUM
Since publication of this report, a flaw has been pointed out in an assumption relating to the calculation of the cost of preventing unwanted births worldwide. This cost was derived from the only figures available, from research in developing countries. In developed countries, however, almost everyone has access to and some knowledge of family planning, though many people who do not want children do not use it. This gives rise to many unintended births with much higher per capita carbon emissions; while the (unknown) cost of preventing such births through programmes to achieve the necessary "culture shift" is probably considerably higher than in developing countries.
OPT therefore accepts that the figure of $7 per tonne of carbon abated by investment in family planning is unreliable, and should not be quoted. The true figure worldwide remains unknown, since no-one else has attempted to quantify it.
OPT is confident, however, that the cost/benefit remains positive, especially taking account of all the unquantified additional benefits listed in Annex B - notably the one-off, low-carbon cost of contraception, with carbon savings multiplying in perpetuity through all the unborn descendants.
Furthermore, if the aid industry succeeds in achieving its aim of making all poor people much richer, as we all hope, the carbon savings from low-cost family planning in developing countries will multiply much faster, and make it even more cost-effective.
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