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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Taking no action on climate change will cost economies a mean $5.4 trillion a year by 2070 and $31 trillion by 2200, said a study.

Accounting for these damages will lead to a 10% reduction in GDP growth rate by 2050 and 25% by 2100, revealed non-profit organization the CDP and University College London, that modeled the damage costs of different levels of action on climate change.

The "reference scenario," based on a 'business as usual' pathway, implies a temperature rise of 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Although there is growing recognition that climate change could have a high impact on long term GDP growth, an important measure of economic health and well-being attempts to embed climate-related risks into mainstream macro-economic indicators have been limited. This is partly because the impact of climate change on GDP is difficult to capture as there are regional winners and losers and large uncertainties in the modeling approach.

The study clearly shows the high costs of damages from both economic and non-economic costs, including environmental damage, in a scenario where no action is taken to cut GHG emissions. This compares to a 2°C scenario where policy action results in a fraction of the costs of damage. This will involve investing in mitigation action but will result in damages peaking in 2070 at a much lower level.

Damage costs in the 2°C scenario peaks at US$1.8 trillion by 2070 and plateaus after thi......................

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