White House report says delay is costly in climate change | Food and Environment Reporting Network

A White House report from the Council of Economic Advisors says that delaying action on climate change becomes increasingly expensive as time passes. The report says a meta-analysis of 16 studies found that total mitigation costs rise by 40 percent for each decade of delay. In temperatures rise by 3 degrees Celsius instead of the 2 degrees that is the global goal, it “could increase economic damage by 0.9 percent of global output…The incremental cost of an additional degree of warming beyond 3 degrees Celsius would be even greater.”

As an example of the potential impact, the report says 0.9 percent of estimated U.S. gross domestic product this year is $150 billion. CEA chairman Jason Furman told reporters it is better to “buy insurance today” in the form of action on greenhouse gases than to wait for later.

Release of the report coincides with hearings in four cities this week on, as Politico describes it, “EPA’s plans to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s power generators by nearly a third.” Some 1,600 people are scheduled to speak at the 11-hour sessions.

To read the 33-page report, click here.