Costs

The longer we wait to act the higher the cost

Stern Review Report (Oct 2006)

Former World Bank chief economist, Nicholas Stern

Economists' Statement on Climate Change

Cost of climate change mitigation is 1% of annual global GDP by 2050 if we act now or 5-20% if we act later.

There are benefits of climate change mitigation of US$2.5T if we act now but global depression if we do nothing.

Notes

As for the cost, this report clearly demonstrated that acting earlier rather than later would reduce the economic burden of climate change. The same applies to a wide range of other resource and environmental issues.