Least-Cost Climatic Stabilization

The paper asserts that most global warming can be abated at negative net cost by replacing inefficient resource use with advanced technologies in energy, farming, and forestry. It details specific potentials for saving electricity and oil, argues for a 'best buys first' investment strategy to avoid opportunity costs, and proposes market-based implementation techniques such as 'feebates' and 'negawatts'. The authors emphasize that these measures support global equity and development, particularly in the USSR and developing nations, while providing significant co-benefits in environmental protection and security.

• The authors argue that most of the best known ways to stabilize the climate are profitable, vital to global equity, and rely on market forces rather than regulatory intervention, suggesting that global warming can be abated at a negative net cost.
• Retrofitting U.S. buildings and equipment with the best commercially available 1989 technologies could save approximately three-fourths of total U.S. electricity at an average net cost of about 0.6¢/kW-h.
• In the U.S., the potential to save oil using demonstrated technologies is approximately 80% at an average cost below $3/bbl, with an additional 20% of leftover saved gas available at ~$10/bbl-equivalent.
• Sustainable farming and forestry can turn farmland from a carbon source into a carbon sink at zero or negative net internal cost; for example, organic practices on 50 million hectares of U.S. farmland could offset annual combustion of ~10% of current U.S. gasoline use.
• The paper suggests that the Soviet Union and Eastern European economies have massive efficiency potential because they are significantly more energy-intensive than the U.S. and Japan, often due to subsidized energy prices and overbuilt primary materials industries.
• The authors state that the phaseout of CFCs, required by the Montréal Protocol, can be achieved at a global abatement cost of approximately $4 billion, which is continuing to decline.

APA

Lovins, A. B., & Lovins, L. H. (1991). Least-Cost Climatic Stabilization. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Least-Cost-Climatic-Stabilization_Scanned-Copy.pdf

Chicago

Lovins, Amory B., and L. Hunter Lovins. Least-Cost Climatic Stabilization. RMI, 1991. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Least-Cost-Climatic-Stabilization_Scanned-Copy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lovins |first1=Amory B. |last2=Lovins |first2=L. Hunter |title=Least-Cost Climatic Stabilization |publisher=RMI |date=31 July 1991 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Least-Cost-Climatic-Stabilization_Scanned-Copy.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lovins1991leastcost, author = {Lovins, Amory B. and Lovins, L. Hunter}, title = {{Least-Cost Climatic Stabilization}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {1991}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Least-Cost-Climatic-Stabilization_Scanned-Copy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }