Fewer Emitters, Lower Emissions, Less Cost: Reducing Future Carbon Emissions by Investing in Family Planning

The purpose of this project was to perform a cost-benefit analysis of reducing carbon emissions by non-coercively reducing population growth. The study estimates the cost-effectiveness of providing global access to basic family planning (as a major method of population growth reduction) in reducing future carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions between 2010 and 2050. This finding is compared to other means of reducing CO2 emissions.

The study found that for each $7 spent on basic family planning (2009 US$) CO2 emissions would be reduced by more than one tonne (meeting all unmet need between 2010 and 2050). By comparison, Project Catalyst predicts that reducing one tonne of CO2 emissions would cost at least $32 using low-carbon technologies. This study also found that meeting all unmet need would prevent the emission of at least 34 Gt of CO2 between 2010 and 2050 assuming that demand for family planning is not stimulated by family planning proposals.