Climate change through the middle of this century is likely to be far costlier than thought — to the tune of $38 trillion per year, a new study finds.
Why it matters: The study finds the world economy is already headed for a loss of 19% of income per capita around the globe within the next 26 years due to historical emissions that will continue to warm the planet.
- The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, shines a new light on the patterns and severity of climate change’s economic impacts while bolstering key conclusions from other research.
- The $38 trillion figure is given in 2005 dollars.
- It is more than double the annual GDP of the entire European Union.
Zoom in: The paper, from three scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, found that the likely economic damages of climate change during the next quarter century outweigh by six times the costs of mitigating global warming and holding it to 2°C above preindustrial levels.
- The research is novel since it focuses on subnational regions, rather than looking at broader geographical areas.
- It examines climate’s economic impacts during the past 40 years in about 1,600 subnational regions and then projects such impacts out to 2050…
…What they’re saying: Outside researchers who were not involved in the new study told Axios that it adds valuable information and builds upon previous work.
- “I think the paper’s main finding that there are committed damages from climate change over the next few decades, and that these damages can be large, makes a lot of sense,” said Marshall Burke of Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, via email.
- He said the study makes the point that even small amounts of warming over a few decades can have “very large economic impacts.”
- “This is believed by some but not by others,” he said, noting he agrees with that point.
- Amir Jina, a climate and economics researcher at the University of Chicago, said the precise numbers in the study may be off, but the main points and trends are supported by other studies.