ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission levels will, over the coming decades, be very much dependent on how the global economic system evolves and how seriously the global community responds to climate change. Population expansion and economic growth, political and cultural trends, technological change, and the impact of, and response to, climate change will all influence future greenhouse gas emissions levels. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the future trajectories of these variables, and the further one looks into the future the more uncertain things become. Nonetheless, it is important to understand what drives greenhouse gas emissions and what the future may look like under different circumstances.
