JOHANNESBURG - You could be doing your bit for climate change by keeping your family small says a London School of Economics study, Fewer Emitters, Lower Emissions, Less Cost. This commonsense finding also established that it was cheaper: contraception costs almost five times less than conventional green technologies that lower harmful emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
Thomas Wire, author of the study, found that every US$7 spent on basic family planning over the next four decades would reduce global CO2 emissions by more than a ton; achieving the same result with low-carbon technologies would cost a minimum of $32.
Based on a global population of about 8.4 billion by 2050, meeting basic family planning needs would mean 34 billion tons less of CO2 between now and 2050 – nearly six times the annual emissions of the US, and almost 60 times the annual UK total, according to the Optimum Population Trust, the UK-based think-tank that commissioned the study.