Powering Net Zero Commitments

74% of Economists Says Net Zero Actions are Economically Desirable

Share this article on your social networks.
why do we need to conserve resources

74% of economists polled states that economic benefits from net-zero emissions by 2050 can outweigh the cost of achieving it. An increasing large number of climate economists state that the world needs to take “immediate and drastic action” in order to combat climate change. This is according to a survey published Tuesday by the US based reputable Institute for Policy Integrity.

Not doing so could cost the planet ABOUT $1.7 trillion a year by the middle of the decade, with figures expected to rise to around $30 trillion a year by 2075. This according to estimates made by 738 economists surveyed by New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity from across the globe.

“People joke about how economists can’t agree on most things,” said Derek Sylvan, the institute’s strategy director and one of the authors of the survey. “But we seem to find a pretty strong level of consensus” on the economic role climate action plays.

Three-quarters of the respondents strongly agrees that drastic action was necessary. This is compared to the result of the poll in 2015, when just half of the economist agreed.

Another question on attaining net zero carbon emissions by 2050 was asked and two-thirds of respondents stated that the cost of investing towards such a global goal was outweighed by the economic benefits it would bring, including preserving coastal assets and infrastructure, preventing natural disasters and protecting food supplies.

In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, scientists have said the world needs to attain net-zero emissions status by 2050. Sylvan stated he was surprised that so many net-zero actions were seen as economically desirable, even on the stringent timeline.

The majority of the international climate economists polled in February stated they had become increasingly concerned about climate change over the past 5 years. The most prevalent reason for this was due to the exacerbation of extreme weather events in recent times, particularly climate-linked heatwave and wildfires.

There were over 7,300 major natural disaster from 2000 to 2019. These disasters killed around 1.2 million people, creating $3 trillion in damages. This is according to the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction. This compares to around 4,200 disasters killing 1.9 million and causing $1.6 trillion in losses over the previous 20 years.

“Some places are more exposed, and current levels of income matter a great deal,” said Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago and the director of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago.

The impact from climate change is sure to impact nations and people all over the world. Economic disparities can make it difficult to apply basic cost-benefit analyses, Greenstone said. For example, a poor family will feel economic losses more acutely than a wealthy family.

“How do we think about a dollar of climate damage to (billionaires) Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos versus a family of four living below the poverty line? I think as a society we have to make a judgment about that.”

As initially reported by Reuters.

Related Posts

BreakingBoundaries
The most important scientific discovery of our time: NetFlix
Netflix states that the film, just released, centres around David Attenborough and Swedish Professor Johan Rockström's research and records “the most important scientific discovery of ...
Read More
climaterulings
4 Massive Climate Rulings Prove that Big Oil, Gas & Coal Are Running Out Of Hiding Places
3 global fossil fuel giants have been on the end of embarrassing rebukes over their inaction or inadequate action on ...
Read More
net_zero_carbon
New IEA report gives meaning to Net Zero – five key insights
The IEA has released its long-awaited roadmap highlighting how the globe’s energy sector could slash its planet-heating emissions to net zero in 30 years
Read More
Methane emissions
Lowering Methane Emissions Is The Fastest Way To Slow Global Heating- UN Report
The new UN report discovered that methane emissions can be halved by 2030 with existing technology and at a reasonable cost. A large proportion of ...
Read More
netzero
Increasing Climate Change Promises are Moving the Needle
Recent and increasing promises concerning climate change made by major countries could bring the earth a fraction closer to the possibility of a more stable ...
Read More
yosemite
Shocking results for nature’s climate change resilience – Retracing a century old wild life survey
When Berkely researchers following in the steps of Joseph Grinnell, a biologist who over a century ago developed a pioneering ...
Read More
ironmanvsclimatechange
Tech billionaires’ Ironman approach to climate change vs. planting trees
3 of the 5 richest individuals in the world, are all aiming to create new technologies which can lower the world’s carbon emissions and fight ...
Read More
climateaction 100plus
World First Net Zero Company Benchmark of the World’s Largest Corporate Emitters
Climate Action 100+, a $54 trillion investor coalition, released a report that evaluated several companies' climate change performance.
Read More
nobel summit
Climate science is undermined by toxic social media: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences / Nobel Prize Summit
Every 8 days, we create the equivalent of a city the size of New York. Toxic social media undermines climate science and see to have ...
Read More