What's missing at this point is the mental shift toward renewable energy. A tremendous opportunity to protect human health and the environment, boost employment, and increase economic options for the industrialized and developing worlds. The first step to reducing carbon emissions is increasing the efficiency of existing users. An excellent starting place is with transportation. The world vehicle fleet has increased tenfold since 1950, and is projected to double again by 2025.
Technology currently exists to greatly improve vehicle fuel economy and, therefore, lower emissions.
Electric vehicles, hybrid electric, and fuel cell-powered vehicles already exist and can be produced, if market forces support them. To encourage market support, however, governments will likely have to create incentives. Subsidies come in the form of tax deductions and credits, investments in road expansion and construction to support vehicle traffic without offsetting user fees, and artificial suppression of electricity and petroleum prices. These subsidies should be shifted to support research and development, and infrastructure development of renewable energy sources, such as wind, photo voltaic, geothermal, and biomass. Some of these policies are already in place in Europe and Japan, and are beginning to appear in the United States, but their application must be accelerated.