The report presents GHG abatement opportunities for 10 sectors, 21 regions and five time-frames (from 2005 to 2030) from an economic perspective. It updates the previous version of their GHG abatement cost curve. It included all known anthropogenic GHG. It explores an updated view of the BAU emissions development, the trajectory of energy prices, and the development and deployment of low-carbon technology. The base year for the report is 2005. The report develops five different carbon-abatement scenarios but does not imply recommendations about what policies are more adequate for each of the scenarios. However, the authors highlight four key categories of abatement opportunities to be considered to achieve emission reductions at a low cost. The report gives the following conclusions:
there are several opportunities to improve energy efficiency in several sectors (e.g. vehicles, buildings, and industrial equipment) and to shift to low-carbon alternatives to reduce energy consumption
forestry and agriculture present abatement opportunities but at a temporary scale
different sectors and regions have different GHG abatement potentials and therefore, will have different capital investment needs
there are several imperfections and barriers that obstruct the economic benefits of GHG abatement options, including but not restricted to: lack of awareness, limited incentives, and rapid payback requirements
policy makers should pay attention to the energy efficiency regulation, long-term stable international system for power and industry, mechanisms to drive selected key technologies down the learning curve, and targeted systems for agriculture and deforestation liked to national development agendas to achieve emission reductions at a low cost.