A new report by the former chief economist of the World Bank puts the cost of unchecked global warming at $7 trillion -- more than the two world wars and the Great Depression combined.
Sir Nicholas Stern recommends devoting one per cent of global GDP to fighting climate change now.
An excerpt from The Globe and Mail story:
Commissioned by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, it is considered significant because it is the first such contribution to the international debate on global climate change that comes not from a scientist but an eminent economist. But it is sure to spark criticism from climate-change skeptics. A group of nine British economists, including former British cabinet minister Nigel Lawson earlier described the Stern study as “a misdirected exercise.”
In the 700-page report, Sir Nicholas warns of the cost of uncontrolled climate change caused by soaring greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century,” Sir Nicholas writes.
The report suggests that 1 per cent of global domestic product be spent immediately on dealing with climate change, to avoid higher costs later. Failure to act would lead to a drop of 5 to 20 per cent of global GDP and make large swaths of the Earth's surface uninhabitable.
Even if the pace of growth of emissions did not rise beyond current levels, the level of gases in the atmosphere would double preindustrial levels by 2050 to 550 parts per million. And based on current trends, average global temperatures will rise by two to three degrees Celsius within the next half century compared with where they were prior to 1850.
It also warns that the developing world will be hit first and hardest and that the richer countries have a responsibility to help them adapt.
Sir Nicholas argues that spending money now on measures to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will pay for themselves many times over.
But he concludes that even with this spending, the world cannot escape all the damaging consequences of climate change.
Here is a snippet of the BBC story:
The Stern Review, which is published on Monday, will say the key to solving the crisis is getting the big polluting countries, such as the US and China, to cut their emissions.
Sir Nicholas will say the polluters must be made to "pay the price" for the problems they are causing the planet.
The report warns unless the world moves to cut green house gases it is heading for a "catastrophic climate change" which would create the worst global recession ever seen.
The Stern Review forecasts that 1% of global gross domestic product (GDP) must be spent on tackling climate change immediately.
It warns that if no action is taken:
- Floods from rising sea levels could displace up to 100 million people
- Melting glaciers could cause water shortages for 1 in 6 of the world's population
- Wildlife will be harmed; at worst up to 40% of species could become extinct
- Droughts may create tens or even hundreds of millions of 'climate refugees'
The study is the first major contribution to the global warming debate by an economist, rather than a scientist.