Unabated fossil fuel emissions will cost the global economy a staggering $12 trillion by 2050, according to a new report from the United Nations.
The report predicts a temperature rise of 2.5ºC by 2050 if climate change continues on its current course, compared to the 1.5ºC temperature rise that was the goal of the emissions reduction plans laid out in the Paris climate accord. The world’s gross domestic product will fall by $33 trillion in the “business-as-usual” scenario, the report found, and by $21 trillion under the 1.5ºC scenario—a difference of $12 trillion.
The report, Pursuing the 1.5ºC Limit, was published by the United Nations Development Programme along with “a group of 43 developing countries which are highly vulnerable to climate change,” the Independent wrote Wednesday.