$500 Billion Per Year More = How Much It'll Cost Us to Keep Delaying Climate Change Action Beyond 2010

Nov 10, 2009-Matthew McDermott - Treehugger.com

photo: Chelsea Oakes via flickr

Here's a quick one on how much more it's going to cost us all financially to keep putting off taking definitive action on climate change. Reuters reports that the IEA estimates that for each year of delay past 2010 it adds $500 billion to the global warming bill:

That means, for each year our governments, our elected leaders and feet of lead business leaders continue to say 'go slow' and not do what science says is required to avoid catastrophic climate change, it adds an additional half trillion dollars to our tab. And that tab was already at $10,500 billion dollars of investment between 2010-2030 to reduce carbon emissions.

Business as Usual Means Irreparable Planetary Harm

That comes from the just-released World Energy Outlook -- though it's in much more sedate language. The report goes on to say in no uncertain terms what the alternative to making sweeping emissions cuts and transition to a low-carbon economy means.

Continuing with a business as usual energy use scenario "would lead almost certainly to massive climate change and irreparable damage to the planet."

At least the IEA has its head in the right place on this one. On massaging oil reserve figures to suit the political interests of the United States, that's another story...

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