Stopping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius cheapest option left

Do you know why many countries across the globe are slow or reluctant in taking action against climate change? The reason is economic cost. 

But a new research by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany published in “Nature Communications” journal suggests that the longer we wait to take action against climate change, the more we will have to pay in the long run.  

Researchers suggest that the cheapest option is to pay to limit the increase in the rise of global temperature. 

A two-degree Celsius hike is expected to happen by the end of the century. In the Paris Agreement, global nations pledged to control the increasing temperature. It is an agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change that deals with greenhouse gas emissions and how to mitigate it. 

The long-term goal of the agreement is to keep the increase in global average temperature below two-degree celsius. The effort to control the increase in temperature is expected to decrease the effect of climate change. 

Climate scientist Anders Levermann says: "To secure economic welfare for all people in these times of global warming, we need to balance the costs of climate change damages and those of climate change mitigation.”

“Now our team has found what we should aim for," he added. 

Cost calculation method: 

Scientists used a computer-based simulation called Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) to look at the impacts of climate change. 

The simulation has been developed by Nobel Laureate of Economics William Nordhaus. It measures the cost of cutting greenhouse gas emissions (through a reduction in the use of coal) against the costs of climate change.

It also looks at increasing weather extremes, reduced human labour capacity and factors that affect the cost. 

Stopping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius is our cheapest option.

Another climate scientist Sven Willner from PIK says: "It is remarkable how robustly reasonable the temperature limit of more or less 2 degrees C is, standing out in almost all the cost-curves we've produced". 

He also emphasised that "fast and fundamental global action" is the only option to control the rising temperature and a future date is going to make it more and more costly.

Anders Levermann says: "The world is running out of excuses to justify sitting back and doing nothing. All those who have been saying that climate stabilisation would be nice but is too costly can see now that it is really unmitigated global warming that is too expensive."

"Business, as usual, is clearly not a viable economic option any more. We either decarbonise our economies or we let global warming fire up costs for businesses and societies worldwide," he added. 

Climate change stories:

Looking at how climate change is impacting us, 2019 was the Earth's second-hottest year since records began. The average global temperature recorded was 1.1 degree Celsius (2.0 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. 

We witnessed devastating wildfires in Amazon and Australia. These wildfires wiped out millions of trees and animals. 

According to a report released in 2019, wildfires have increased by a record 83 per cent as compared to the same period in 2018. So, it is not just Amazon or Australia, the entire earth is burning. 

We are consuming 100 billion tonnes of natural resources and not reusing or recycling them. 

A report mentions that the share of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass feeding into the global economy and getting reused has declined to 8.6 per cent from 9.1 per cent in two years. 

India creates around 62 million tonnes per year of waste out of which only 20 per cent gets treated.