Mitigation costs below three percent of GDP | COP15
From a post by Morten Andersen on the COP15 website:
If we act now, the costs of keeping greenhouse gas emissions at a level that "avoid catastrophes" can be moderate, according to Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"The cost to the global economy in 2030, so that’s 21 years from now, will be no more than three percent of the global GDP (…) we have no choice but to see that collectively global emissions of greenhouse gases are brought down as rapidly as possible. By 2015, we have to ensure that we reach a peak and beyond that year we should bring about the reduction," Rajendra Pachauri told a conference in Australia, according to Bloomberg.
His statements are in line with a study earlier this year by a network of 200 economists under Portland-based Ecotrust. The study estimates that it will cost around 2.5 percent of global GDP to reduce atmospheric carbon concentrations from 387 ppm (parts per million) presently to 350 ppm, a level that will contain global warming below two degrees Celsius.
