LONDON: Efforts to fight global warming will cost trillions of dollars by the end of the century unless urgent action is taken immediately to contain the threat, a study by a British environment group has highlighted. This amount is without counting biodiversity loss or unpredictable climatic events, the study said Friday.
The study carried out by Friends of the Earth based on more than 100 scientific and related papers compiled by the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University in the U.S. said immediate remedial action can avoid some of the disastrous consequences of not acting. This will cost relatively little, the study added.
It pointed out that global temperatures are already 0.6 degrees Cel above pre-industrial levels and these are expected to rise by more than 2 degrees Cel unless immediate and vigorous efforts are made to reduce emissions.
Co-author of the study Frank Ackerman said it is necessary now to turn off greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid catastrophe in the decades to come.
The study said inaction now may cost world governments and individuals nearly 11 trillion pounds a year by 2100, constituting 6 to 8 per cent of the global economic output then.
The study warned that a 3 degree Cel increase is quite possible without major efforts at reducing emissions and the increase will be 4 degree Cel if no efforts are made. At 4 degree Cel, the world will have hotter summers, more number of droughts, extreme cases of flooding and other climate-related disasters, which will cost the world 22 billion pounds a year by 2080.
Many scientists predict that the average temperatures will rise in the range of between two and six degrees Cel by the end of the century as a result of uncontrolled greenhouse emissions.
Mike Childs, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said the report demonstrates that climate change will not only be an environmental and social disaster, it will also be an economic catastrophe.
