Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 18 • 20th October 2006

Act Now: Climate Damage Will Cost Trillions

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According to a new study, annual economic damage resulting from unabated climate change will amount to trillions of US dollars by the end of the century, and social and environmental harms will be “incalculable”.

Researcher at the Tuft University Global Development and Environment Institute released the study entitled “Climate Change - the Costs of Inaction” on 11 October. They predict that even an increase in temperature of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels will have many harmful and costly impacts, outweighing the potential benefits to Northern countries, such as increased yields in temperate agriculture and decreased total temperature-related mortality. At levels beyond two degrees, the effects of global warming will be much more dangerous, as all potential benefits will vanish and all regions will suffer from extreme weather events, food and water shortages, raising sea levels following the complete melting of the Greenland ice sheet, desertification and widespread species extinctions. The report estimates that damages “could reach US$ 20 trillion by 2100, equivalent to six to eight percent of global economic output at that time”.

The report stresses the need for immediate action to stem the release of greenhouse gases to keep temperature increase below two degrees. The up-front costs would be much smaller than those of dealing with the damages caused by climate change later. Frank Ackerman, one of the co-authors, noted that “The climate system has enormous momentum, as does the economic system. We have to start turning off greenhouse gas emissions now in order to avoid catastrophe in decades to come.”

The report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, is available at http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/Climate-CostsofInaction.pdf.

“Climate Change Could Cost Economy Trillions”, EDIE NEWS, 17 October 2006; “Economists Warn Climate Change Will Cost Trillions if Governments Fail to Act”, MEDIA ADVISORY, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL, 13 October 2006.