Half the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the world safe can be achieved at a net profit to the global economy, a study has found.

McKinsey, the consultancy, publishes a report on Thursday concluding that investment in energy efficiency of about $170bn a year worldwide would yield a profit of about 17 per cent, or $29bn.

This investment, encompassing only energy-saving measures that could be done quickly and at minimal cost, would also cut carbon dioxide emissions by about half the amount needed to stabilise the gas at about 550 parts per million, the limit of safety according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The cost of tackling climate change has been hotly debated, with some economists arguing that immediate action to cut emissions would cost only a few per cent of future global gross domestic product, while waiting would be more expensive because of the need to adapt to the effects of climate change. Others say it would be cheaper to wait for low-carbon technologies, such as renewable energy, to come down in price.

McKinsey said it made its estimate by including energy-saving measures that would yield a return of 10 per cent or more on the investment required, through lower energy consumption. It estimated the energy saved from such efficiency measures would be equivalent to 64m barrels of oil a day, while the cost would amount to about 0.4 per cent of GDP.

Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, said: “It shows just how much deadweight loss there is in the economy in energy use.”

She said the most inefficient sector was heavy industry in China, with the second residential housing in the US, where homes are large, poorly insulated and equipped with a range of appliances that are often themselves inefficient or poorly used, such as air-conditioning systems left on unnecessarily.

Before a meeting on clean technology investment at the UN on Thursday, Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a coalition of institutional investors, said: “This is the message financial leaders need to hear: there is huge opportunity [in energy efficiency] and those moving money around are going to make the difference in this.

“Efficiency is the fastest, cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gases and could bring large profits to the global economy,” she said.

Companies and individuals have shown little willingness to invest in energy efficiency in the past. But McKinsey said rising energy prices were providing a spur to both business and households. Ms Lubber said institutional investors were seeking more energy-efficient property portfolios.