New Report: Even Modest Climate Change Will Cost the Economy $150 Billion Annually

What’s the Latest?

The long-term costs of ignoring climate change will dwarf those caused by cutting carbon emissions in the short term, according to a new report released by the President’s council of economic advisors. For every decade of delay in combatting climate change, the eventual costs of coping with the loss of livelihood and property will increase by 40%. “A 3 degree centigrade rise above pre-industrial levels would shave about 0.9% a year off global GDP, or about $150 billion a year, the report said. A 4 degree centigrade rise would cost the global economy 3.1% of global GDP a year, it said.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Once climate change passes a certain threshold, there is no amount of money that could stabilize temperatures. This renewed focus on the economic costs of climate change comes as the President prepares to push measures that would limit carbon pollution from power plants, America’s largest single source of carbon dioxide. “Industry groups, such as the American Petroleum Institute and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, accuse the EPA of waging a ‘war on coal’ and say the regulations will damage the economy.”