Climate Change $38 Trillion Cost

According to a new study published in Nature titled “The economic commitment of climate change”, “Under a middle-of-the road scenario of future income development (SSP2, in which SSP stands for Shared Socio-economic Pathway), this corresponds to global annual damages in 2049 of 38 trillion in 2005 international dollars (likely range of 19–59 trillion 2005 international dollars).” In English, this is the annual cost of climate change in 2049 without mitigation. The cost of mitigation is about one-fifth of that.

Climate Shock –Rain In The Desert

Much of the cost would be in lower wages. “Climate change will cause massive economic damages within the next 25 years in almost all countries around the world, also in highly-developed ones such as Germany, France and the United States,” lead author Leonie Wenz of the Potsdam Institute said in a statement.

“These damages already outweigh the mitigation costs required to limit global warming to 2 °C by sixfold over this near-term time frame and thereafter diverge strongly dependent on emission choices” the paper says.

This annual price tag is nearly 50% higher than the US GDP and equivalent to about a third of the total global GDP.

This is one of several warnings by scientists who have put a price tag on global warming and drawn conclusions based on the economic effects rather than the health and migration issues. So far, they have not been taken seriously enough to change government and corporate policy to make a difference.