Doing nothing vs. doing something
7 October 2009
The blue line in this chart shows the increase in greenhouse gases if we do nothing. The orange line shows the OECD’s estimates of what would happen if we pursued a range of cost-effective solutions. These include removing subsidies for environmentally harmful energy production and consumption and creating a watertight global market for emissions trading. Even solutions such as these would come at a cost: By 2050, global GDP would be 4% lower than if we took the business-as-usual approach. However, as world GDP is forecast to grow by 250% over that same period, that may well be a price worth paying.
Find out more:
- The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation: Policies and Options for Global Action Beyond 2012 (OECD 2009); executive summary
- OECD work on the economics of combating climate change
- OECD Policy Brief: Cost-Effective Actions to Tackle Climate Change
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