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Climate Change Costs

Potential Climate Change Impacts with Temperature Change (1/8)

Key sectors of society that will be affected by rising temperatures include agriculture, forestry, and health. As temperatures rise the costs of climate change include coral bleaching, falling crop yields, worsening human health, the loss of small islands and forests, and increasingly extreme weather. (Source: Asian Development Bank, adapted from Stern Review)

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Climate Change Costs

Falling Rice Yields (2/8)

Most crop yields will fall as the globe warms. The business-as-usual scenario on the left shows how yields of the most important staple crop in the world will fall in southeast Asia and worldwide if nothing is done to halt greenhouse gas emissions. The right hand graph demonstrates how the decline would be much less if CO2 levels in the atmosphere were stabilized at 450 parts per million.(Source: Asian Development Bank)

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Climate Change Costs

Total Losses in Different Scenarios (3/8)

Under a business-as-usual scenario (blue line), climate change will cost Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam up to 6 percent of the four countries total GDP by 2100. The red and yellow lines show how losses would be less if CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere were stabilized at 550 parts per million and 450 million parts per million respectively. Worldwide, unrestrained climate change could cost more than 20 percent of global GDP "now and forever" according to Alex Bowen, senior economist behind the Stern Review. (Source: Asian Development Bank)

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Climate Change Costs

Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change (4/8)

Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century, according to the Institute for Global Health Commission. The World Health Organization reports that around 150,000 people die every year from factors related to climate change, such as drought, heatwaves, water-borne and respiratory diseases, and that those numbers will rise with increased global warming. And as climates and ecosystems change faster than ever before, the risk of deadly new diseases emerging increases. In short, climate change is very bad for our health.(Sources: United Nations Environment Program, World Health Organization, Center for Health and the Global Environment)

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Climate Change Costs

Early Action vs Business as Usual (5/8)

Time means money, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in the costs of postponing action on climate change. The above graphic compares the costs depending on when effective climate protection policies are implemented. If we wait until 2025 to protect against climate change the costs of increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and severe weather will be three, four, or even five times higher than they would be if we act now. (Source: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW))

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Climate Change Costs

Costs of Climate Change vs Climate Protection (6/8)

Should we react promptly to the threat of climate change, or should we accept the inevitable? The graph on the left shows the costs over this century of protecting the climate in different regions of the world, depending on when we implement climate protection policies, from 2005 or from 2025. Contrast with the graph on the right which shows what we are likely to pay in terms of climate change damages, depending on when we act, over the same period to 2100. (Source: German Institute for Economic Research (DIW))

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Climate Change Costs

Green Economic Stimulus(7/8)

The global economic crisis prompted by the financial meltdown in 2008 has resulted in massive government spending by governments to try and kick start their economies. Many view this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lay the foundations for a low-carbon, climate friendly future by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency. But will the economic stimulus be green? Who is taking the lead. So far it is the Asia Pacific, specifically China and South Korea, that have invested most in truly green shoots of recovery. (Source: HSBC)

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Climate Change Costs

Green Stimulus World Rankings (8/8)

Top of the green stimulus rankings is South Korea, which has plowed over 80 percent of its economic recovery dollars into renewable energy development, public transport infrastructure, and other green initiatives, seven times more than South Africa or the UK. The European Union recovery plan is also weighted towards green projects, although individual EU countries like France and Germany are spending a much lower proportion of their national budgets on climate protection. China, which is dedicating over a third of its economic stimulus to green projects, is spending the most in total (216 billion dollars), followed by the United States and South Korea. (Source: HSBC)

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Climate Change: The Costs of Action

Many people wonder what governments, businesses, and citizens must sacrifice to tackle climate change. Can we bear the expense of a world without fossil fuels? How many jobs and how much income will be lost? Is it really worth the effort?

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