The low carbon revolution is next.

Let us presume, finally, that by 2050, all electricity production has made the transition to low carbon energy sources.

The utilities would then shift to low carbon solar power.

With a long term and predictable carbon tax and subsidy system, the world would move systematically toward low carbon energy, greater energy efficiency, and CCS.

Yet we must complete most of the transformation to low carbon energy by mid century.

NEW YORK The solution to manmade climate change depends on the transition to electricity production that, unlike burning oil, natural gas, and coal, emits little or no carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Low carbon electricity can be produced by solar, nuclear, and wind energy, or by coal burning power plants that capture and store their CO2 emissions.

There are three compelling reasons for the world to make the shift to low carbon energy.

We need to use energy far more wisely while shifting from fossil fuels to low carbon energy sources.

With energy prices moving center stage, there is a danger that already weak incentives for investment in low carbon energy will be further undermined.

Funding the Low Carbon Revolution

Germany, for example, is planning the world s most ambitious low carbon energy transition, based on energy conservation and renewables.

Part of the tax revenue should be channeled into subsidies for new low carbon energy sources like wind and solar, and to cover the costs of developing CCS.

To save the planet, we need to induce power suppliers to adopt low carbon energy sources despite coal s lower price and greater ease of use.

If so stimulated, the domestic energy market for cheap, low carbon energy would be a massive force multiplier in the US or any economy.

And, the World Bank s energy financing remains overwhelmingly dedicated to fossil fuels, despite limited efforts to establish funding for low carbon energy.

And they should divert part of the savings into energy cooperation aimed at supporting low carbon transitions in developing countries.

Investments in energy efficiency and low carbon technologies could also pull the global economy out of its economic slowdown over the next couple of years.

We could therefore achieve huge reductions in CO2 emissions by converting to small, lightweight, battery powered vehicles running on highly efficient electric motors and charged by a low carbon energy source such as solar power.

In order for the whole planet to make a sustainable shift away from fossil fuels, we need to make low carbon energy both cheaper and more efficient.

Funds are needed to invest in new low carbon energy sources, reforestation and protection of rain forests, land use changes, and adaptation and mitigation.

Meanwhile, France relies heavily on low carbon nuclear power, and is switching rapidly to electric vehicles, such as the pioneering Renault Nissan Leaf.

Back in April, G 20 leaders accepted that investing in a low carbon infrastructure, particularly energy services, is key to a truly sustainable economic and environmental future.

We need to use energy far more wisely while shifting from fossil fuels to low carbon energy sources. Such decisive improvements are certainly possible and economically realistic.

A feed in tariff subsidizes the low carbon energy source rather than taxing the high carbon energy source.

Recent developments in wind, solar, tidal, bio energy, geothermal, and fuel cell technology are transforming the scope for low carbon energy production.

Let us presume, finally, that by 2050, all electricity production has made the transition to low carbon energy sources. The consumer price finally reaches 0.16 kilowatt hour, enough to cover the full cost of solar power without a further subsidy.

PARIS Humanity s future, to say nothing of its prosperity, will depend on how the world tackles two central energy challenges securing reliable supplies of affordable energy, and switching to efficient low carbon energy.

Commit to the decarbonization of the power sector as a vital building block of the low carbon economy.

Humanity needs to learn new ways to produce and use low carbon energy, grow food sustainably, build livable cities, and manage the global commons of oceans, biodiversity, and the atmosphere.

Much of that remarkable economic performance is built on the industries of the low carbon future.

Investing heavily in research and development of low carbon energy, solar power, or other new technologies would become cheaper than fossil fuels much more quickly.

Advocates of stronger action respond that low carbon investments can generate much stronger, cleaner growth.

They actively promote carbon intensive energy and deter green investment.

The United States has developed many new low carbon energy technologies, but other countries are currently far more intent, far sighted, and decisive than the US to put these technologies to large scale use.

Different countries will choose different strategies, but we will all need to get to the same place a new energy system built on low carbon sources, electrification of vehicles, and smart, energy efficient buildings and cities.

New businesses are already emerging all over the world, focused on low carbon solutions to energy generation and use, from light bulbs to transport, but they are still at the pioneering stage.

NEW YORK The surest bet on the future of energy is the need for low carbon energy supplies.

In fact, Europe s biggest successes in promoting low carbon energy have come from its feed in tariffs, and carbon taxes in some countries, rather than its cap and trade system.

Humanity needs to learn new ways to produce and use low carbon energy, grow food sustainably, build livable cities, and manage the global commons of oceans, biodiversity, and the atmosphere. But time is running very short.

The obvious way is to tax coal, or to require power plants to have permits to use coal, and to set the tax or permit price high enough to induce a shift towards the low carbon alternatives.

Already, industries that have traditionally operated independently from energy to utilities to transportation are moving quickly toward cross sector collaboration, radically altering the business environment, and creating opportunities for new low carbon business models to thrive.

So will the changeover of power plants to carbon capture and storage.

Every country should agree to spend 0.05 of its GDP on low carbon energy R D. The total global cost would be 15 times higher than current spending on alternative energy research, yet six times lower than the cost of Kyoto.

Cryogenic energy storage (CES) is the use of low temperature (cryogenic) liquids such as liquid air or liquid nitrogen as energy storage.

Some low carbon policies have clearly been expensive, while other, apparently cost effective options, have not been pursued at all.