The more we delay, the more we will pay. Climate change is accelerating and human activities are the principal cause, as documented in a series of authoritative scientific reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The effects are already widespread, costly and consequential — to agriculture, water resources, human health, and ecosystems on land and in the oceans. Climate change poses sweeping risks for economic stability and the security of nations.
Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General, United Nations: Now Is the Time to Act on Climate Change
Mitigation- taking strong action to reduce emissions – must be viewed as an investment, a cost incurred now and in the coming decades to avoid the risks of very severe consequences in the future. If these investments are made wisely, the costs will be manageable, and there will be a wide range of opportunities for growth and development along the way”. Stern, M. (2006) Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change
The task of promoting human development, ending poverty, increasing global prosperity, and reducing global inequality will be very challenging in a 2°C world, but in a 4°C world there is serious doubt whether this can be achieved at all. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the climate impacts being felt today and the unavoidable consequences of a rapidly warming world. The benefits of strong, early action on climate change — action that follows clean, low carbon pathways and avoids locking in unsustainable growth strategies — far outweigh the costs. Turn down the heat – World Bank Nov 2014
“The financial costs linked to climate change represent the biggest threat to the global economy, according to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz”
We need to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies now: End Fossil Fuel Subsidies Now and Start Carbon Tax, Urges World Bank Chief
Jim Yong Kim, WB president, 2015
Corporate responsibility:
Climate change is one of the greatest risks facing humankind this century. Through a part of its core business, the insurance industry is directly affected and therefore assumes a leading role in devising solutions for climate protection and adaptation to the inevitable changes. Munich re
Climate change on the rocks: losses from drought/subsidence, inundation, and storms in France could almost double until 2040 Munich re
Guardian (2015) World Bank rejects energy industry notion that coal can cure poverty
Read more: Heat waves, floods, lack of water, sea level rise and extreme weather have devastating effects on economy
- Joseph Stieglitz: As the Climate Goes, So Goes the Economy
- Krugman, IMF: Fighting Global Warming Is ‘Cheap’ And ‘Might Actually Lead To Faster Growth’
- Lord Stern Report: Transform Global Economy to Fight Climate Change
- Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change
- World Bank: Climate change overview
- World Bank: Decarbonising development (2015)
- World Bank: New Study Adds Up the Benefits of Climate-Smart Development in Lives, Jobs, and GDP
- World Bank: Climate change
- World Bank: World Is Locked into ~1.5°C Warming & Risks Are Rising
- World Bank: Putting a price on carbon would help economies
- World Bank rejects energy industry notion that coal can cure poverty
- World Bank’s climate change envoy (2015) ‘We need to wean ourselves off coal’
End Fossil Fuel Subsidies Now and Start Carbon Tax, Urges World Bank Chief - Guardian (2015) World Bank rejects energy industry notion that coal can cure poverty
- IMF Experts and Others Envision a World without Energy Subsidies.
- How to Finance the Global Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy
- Sustainable Energy Revolution Grows, Says Bloomberg Report
- What the U.S. Should Learn from Russia’s Collapse
- Bank of England investigating risk of ‘carbon bubble’ (Guardian Dec 2014)
- Bank of England prods insurers about climate plans (FT Dec 2014)
- Disclose climate risk in fossil fuel investments, says UK minister
- The Role of the 2015 Agreement in Mobilising Climate Finance
- It’s Time to Break Saudi’s Oil Monopoly and Embrace Clean Transportation (May 2016)
- Bloomberg’s (2014) California’s Record Heat Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen… Yet
- Aldern, C (2015) Climate change more catastrophic for the global economy than we thought
- Nature / Burke1, Solomon & Edward (2015) Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production
- NCDC /NOAA (2015) India heat wave kills thousands
- NOAA (2015) Protecting People from Sweltering City Summers
- NOAA (2015) Late July’s stupefying heat indexes in southwest Iran
- NCDC /NOAA (2015) With rising greenhouse gases, U.S. heat waves to become more common & longer-lasting
- NOAA (2015) Atlantic’s Hurricane Heat Potential
- Inaction on Climate Change Could Cost Millennials $8.8 Trillion in Lifetime Income
- Hurricane Harvey Is a Horrible Reminder of the Cost We Pay for Climate Denial (Sept 2017)
- Big insurers brace for perilous future as climate risks escalate (Nov 2017)
Next
| Home | Chapter 3 | 3. Impacts |
| 3.1 More water vapor | ||
| 3.2 Sea level rise | ||
| 3.3 Polar sea ice | ||
| 3.4 Air pollution | ||
| 3.5 Acidification | ||
| 3.6 Health | ||
| 3.7 Extreme weather | ||
| 3.8 Economy | ||
| 3.9 Refugees and conflicts | ||
| 3.10 Glaciers | ||
| 3.11 Tipping points | ||
| 3.12 Biodiversity | ||
| 3.13 Water | ||
| Chapter 4 | 4. Ecosystems |
