Climate Change Could be Expensive for Canada
October 14, 2011
October 14, 2011
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) published an article discussing the economic impacts of climate change. Read the full article with recommendations and report.
Unless global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are brought down and Canada invests in adaptation, the economic impacts of climate change on Canada could climb to
billions of dollars per year.
Paying the Price: the Economic Impacts of Climate Change for Canada – the fourth report in the NRT’s Climate Prosperity series – is the first national study to show what the economic consequences to Canada could be as a result of climate change, under four separate scenarios involving two factors: global GHG emissions and Canadian economic and population growth.
Although Canada contributes approximately 1.5% of global emissions, the report concludes that climate change impacts brought about by increased world-wide emissions have a real and growing economic cost to Canada. It also shows that adaptation – our capacity to manage the impacts to come – while not cost-free, is a cost-effective way to alleviate some of those impacts.
Based on NRT original economic modelling, the report finds that the economic impact on Canada could reach:
In the 2050s:
WHAT DID WE FIND?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
WHAT DO WE RECOMMEND?
Canadians can and should use economic information to decide how to best prepare for, and respond to, the impacts of climate change. Our recommendations are as follows:
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Paying the Price highlights areas where additional research and analysis on climate change impacts and adaptation are needed for Canada. Having clearly identified economic risks associated with a changing climate, we need to turn our attention to exploring the economic opportunities of adaptation — to both cope and prosper through inevitable degrees of climate change.
Read the complete article on the NRTEE website.