New Delhi, Oct 2  A strict global carbon budget between now and 2050 based on a fair distribution between rich and poor nations has the potential to prevent dangerous climate change and keep temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius, a new WWF report shows.

The report, called 'Sharing the effort under a global carbon budget' and released worldwide Friday, is based on research, calculations and analysis by the consultancy Ecofys and shows different ways to cut global emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 and by 30 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

"In order to avoid the worst and most dramatic consequences of climate change, governments need to apply the strictest measures to stay within a tight and total long-term global carbon budget," said Stephan Singer, director of Global Energy Policy at WWF.

"If governments ?relax' the rules according to which they distribute emissions, we will end up in climate chaos. There is no such thing as carbon offset for planet earth. We have just one planet and it needs one emissions budget.

"Ultimately, a global carbon budget is equal to a full global cap on emissions."

According to the analysis, the total carbon budget -- the amount of tolerable global emissions over a period of time -- has to be set roughly at 1,600 giga tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2eq) between the years 1990 and 2050.

As the world has already emitted a large part of this, the budget from today until 2050 is reduced to 970 Gt CO2eq excluding land use changes.

The report evaluates different pathways to reduce emissions, all in line with the budget. It describes three different methodologies which could be applied to distribute the burden and the benefits of a global carbon budget in a fair and equitable way.

* Greenhouse Development Rights, where all countries need to reduce emissions below business as usual based on their per capita emissions, poverty thresholds and GDP per capita.

* Contraction and Convergence, where per capita allowances converge from a country's current level to a level equal for all countries within a given period.

* Common but Differentiated Convergence, where developed countries' per capita emissions converge to an equal level for all countries and others converge to the same level once their per capita emissions reach a global average. (IANS)