A new online tool for businesses, NGOs and governments allows them to consider the effect of, and evaluate ways to improve on their carbon emissions.  The Global Calculator has been built by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change in partnership with China’s Energy Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission.

According to the DECC, the tools shows that cutting carbon emissions to limit global temperatures to a 2°C rise can be achieved while improving living standards.

This interactive calculator uses different scenarios to illustrate example pathways for global energy development to the year 2050. These scenarios have already been great catalyst for debate around climate change, especially the energy sector. High price volatility and uncertainty that the sector has been exposed to create a need to understand the pertinent factors that contribute to climate change and how it can best be managed. This information is vital to policy makers and business leaders, in order for them to make informed decisions that will effect positive change and create a resilient energy sector. This is fundamental to future prosperity.

The Global Calculator, an EU climate innovation initiative, was unveiled on 28 January at launch events in Beijing and London. Says Stefan Hirschberg, head of laboratory for energy systems analysis at the Paul Scherrer Institute: “The models for generating relevant global energy scenarios are highly complex and data-intensive. The Global Calculator is a useful tool for graphic representation of some of the key results, for comparing the different pathways and their implications and for exploring the sensitivities to variation of some key parameters. Thus, it will help to disseminate some of the key results of scenario studies and promote better understanding of the influence of selected driving factors on the results.”