What will a significant reduction in the level of greenhouse gases entail? Which approaches will be most effective, and how much will it cost to achieve this goal?

To get a better understanding of the ways to cut emissions, the cost of each, and the reductions they could achieve—in other words, to provide facts for the debate—McKinsey has undertaken a multiyear research initiative to map the opportunities to reduce (or abate) greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, we completed a broad-based global study. More recently, we have taken a focused look at what can be done at a national level in a number of different countries. We developed these for the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, Netherlands, and Sweden, and are currently developing cost curves in a dozen other countries, including several emerging markets (e.g., India, China, Brazil). In each case, we collaborated with leading companies, academics, industry associations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to assemble the best available data on abatement measures. The full reports for each can be found below: