Wednesday 1 November 2006

How much planet-saving does $600 billion buy?

Carbon taxes will knock climate change on the head, you say? Let's have a look and see how much it might cost to be "carbon neutral," and how much "mitigation" that might buy if successful.

New Zealand produces about 35,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Earlier in the year the sum of $15/tonne of CO2 produced was mooted by Climate Change Minister David Parker.

Run these figures through Junk Science's Real Carbon Footprint Calculator and we get ... flashing lights, the whir of high-powered machinery and this result:

Congratulations! You have just saved the planet warming by

0.0000000000151 °C

at a cost of just

$595,403,130,086.39 per °C!

Just $600 billion (give or take a billion or so) for so for such an 'enormous' result. A bargain, don't you think?!

Now, what else do you think could be done with that money? [Go here for the working. Go here to try the calculation for yourself.]

And if you have a better calculation or a better calculator, then do let me know in the comments.

LINKS: The Real Carbon Footprint Calculator - Junk Science
Millenium development goal indicators (New Zealand) - United Nations Statistics Division

RELATED: Politics-NZ, Economics, Budget_&_Taxation, Environment, Global Warming

5 comments:

phil_style said...

That calculator is worded very poorely.

If, as it claims, you have prevented .0000000000151 `C of global warming at a coat of $595403130086.39 per `C, then so what?

That means you have only spent $8.99. What a piontless summary. . . That's just obvious, if it costs $600 billion to offset 1 `C.

Captain Calculus said...

But the UN site must be correct....it has a picture of a smilling kid and everything.

Are you going to KILL that KID!?!?! If you're not part ofthe answer, then You're part of the Problem!!(c)!!

phil_style said...

I just had to add another comment because my verification word was "spewn". That's just brilliant.

Anonymous said...

PC - what figures did you input to get those figures out, out of interest?

DenMT

phil_style said...

I'm still of the opinion that the calculator doesn't actually produce any sort of meaningful calculation . . .