The Economic Commitment of Climate Change

Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19% by 2050 due to climate change. This damage is six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence. Originally published in Nature 628, 551-557 under a CC BY 4.0 license. More details: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/