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The United States can save US$3.5 trillion by launching a serious greenhouse gas reduction effort now, rather than waiting until 2030 without even factoring in the public health benefits of fossil fuel reductions, or the avoided cost of climate-driven extreme weather, according to a new report by San Francisco-based Energy Innovation.
“If action begins in 2030, the cost of transitioning to a clean energy economy will be an estimated 75% higher than if action were to begin this year,” Quartz reports. “That works out to roughly $750 billion each year in the 2030 scenario (for a total of about $8 trillion), compared to peak costs of $320 billion per year if early action is taken (for a total of $4.5 trillion).”
NationofChange
Immediate climate action can save U.S. $3.5 trillion over time
“In particular, it is urgent to quickly transition to electric vehicles and building components, because polluting equipment sold today will last for decades.”
Promptly implementing the aggressive actions necessary to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas pollution to net-zero by 2050 would save the U.S. at least $3.5 trillion compared to the cost of waiting until 2030 to start achieving that goal, a report published Wednesday by Energy Innovation found.
The savings, the authors of the report emphasize, only consider the spending required to slash U.S. emissions and thus do not include the savings that would be incurred by the public health benefits of reducing fossil fuel extraction and combustion or the avoided costs associated with extreme weather which delayed climate action could worsen.
February 3, 2021
When it comes to climate change, the world is on two different timelines. Since 1988, or even the 1890s, scientists have said (with increasing urgency) that eliminating greenhouse gas emissions will be essential to avoid a warming climate. Until recently, lawmakers responded with the policy equivalent of, “We’ll deal with this later.”
A new study from the nonpartisan energy policy firm Energy Innovation places a precise dollar figure on the cost of procrastination. The group analyzed the cost to the US economy of waiting 10 more years before passing policies to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Their peer-reviewed model examined the annual costs of replacing fossil fuels with clean energy for transportation, electrification, industry, and building in the US.