Family planning tops for reducing emissions

According to a recent paper by David Wheeler and Dan Hammer, population policy options are much less costly than almost all other reviewed options for low-carbon energy development, including solar, wind, and nuclear power, second-generation biofuels, and carbon capture and storage. They are also cost-competitive with forest conservation and other improvements in forestry and agricultural practices.

This table, based on data in their paper, shows how many tonnes of CO2 would be abated for your $1m:

Intervention	Tonnes of CO2 saved
Family planning & girls’ education combined	250,000
Family planning alone	222,222
Girls education alone	100,000
Reduce slash and burn of forests	66,667
Pasture management	50,000
Geothermal energy	50,000
Energy efficient buildings	50,000
Pastureland afforestation	40,000
Nuclear energy	40,000
Reforestation of degraded forests	40,000
Plug-in hybrid cars	33,333
Solar	33,333
Power plant biomass co-firing	28,571
Carbon Capture and Storage (new)	28,571
Carbon Capture and Storage (retrofit)	26,316