Olympics in cyberspace, lab-grown meat, licences to have children, climate change denial a crime, and return of the launderette: welcome to 2030

A CHILLING world where licences are required for having children and questioning global warming is a crime could be ushered in by climate change, a report out today predicts.

Governments could ban car ownership and automatically switch off power-hungry devices such as kettles and washing machines if households exceeded energy quotas.

The scenario is one of five potential responses to climate change described by a panel of 60 experts in the study by Forum for the Future, a sustainable development group.

These range from a hi-tech, low-carbon economy to citizens living a simpler life.

Technological responses could include artificially grown meat feeding millions of people, coasts being protected by "eco-concrete" sea walls which generate energy from waves, and massive solar-powered desalination plants irrigating deserts.

Another scenario, in which rocketing fuel prices spur innovation, imagines door-to-door laundry collections replacing washing machines.

The Olympic Games would be replaced by a virtual version, with athletes staying at home and competing – and being watched – via cyberspace.

Peter Madden, the chief executive of Forum for the Future, said aspects of all the scenarios were likely to take place. He said: "What we do now could determine the fate of billions of people. These could be the most important years in history."

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the report was a timely wake-up call.

He said: "It is right to highlight the potential negatives, because we have left taking action until it is almost too late.

"But we should not say it's all going to be a disaster and shove the blinkers back on, which too many people are doing at the moment. There are positive aspects to every scenario, such as rolling back globalisation."

On Eigg, for example, residents have agreed to limit electricity use to prevent overloading their wind- and solar-powered system.

The five possible futures for mankind

• 'GOLDEN AGE': Rapid innovation in energy efficiency and new technology has enabled a low-carbon economy with almost no need for changes in lifestyle.

The result is an increasingly individualistic and consumer-focused world, with a growing divide between rich and poor.

Some call this a golden age of technology and freedom, but others call it a very shaky house of cards.

• CARBON WORLD: Carbon has become one of the most important and expensive commodities in the world, unleashing unprecedented levels of creativity across the global economy.

It has also created a new type of consumerist world, with a "share with your neighbour" ethos.

Many companies also now meet underlying needs by selling services, not products.

• GREEN EUTOPIA: A "well-being" economy has come to the fore across the world, whose key values include low-impact lifestyles more quality time with family and friends, better health and a increased sense of community.

However, "free-riders" plunder resources and exploit the vulnerable.

Several large cities set themselves up as "havens of real capitalism".

• DRACONIAN STEPS: Tough measures have been adopted to combat climate change in a world which woke up late to the threat, pushing economies to the limit of what they can deliver.

Governments took a stronger and stronger role, rationalising industries to reduce their climate change impact, even putting "carbon monitors" in people's homes to watch their energy use.

• OPEN WAR: Globalisation has gone into retreat and countries focus on security and access to resources at any cost.

Accusations of cheating over emissions agreements, such as through undeclared power stations, cause international co-operation to collapse.

Terrorists capitalise on the chaos to further their nationalist causes by launching devastating bio-chemical attacks.