In the buildup to the December summit in Copenhagen when the international community hopes to negotiate new emissions goals and implement a new climate treaty, there is debate raging on exactly how much adapting to climate change is going to cost. The UN climate change secretariat, UNFCCC, estimates that the global cost of adapting to the effects of climate change at around $40 billion to $170 billion a year until 2030.
But a report released last week by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change has found that these numbers to be on the exceedingly low side.
Based on a six-month review of the estimated costs, the report has found that the true costs of adapting to climate change to be at least two to three times higher that the UNFCCC estimations.
According to this report, the UNFCCC, by focusing primarily on agricultural and health measures as growing drought-resistant crops and limiting the spread of diseases and ignoring the costs of adapting and protecting other industry sectors such as tourism, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and mining, has created a inaccurate idea of actual costs. This, in turn, could result in an inability nations, especially the least developed countries with little to no infrastructure, to cover the true costs of adaptation to climate change.
Either way you look at it, climate change is going to be expensive.
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