Climate Change: The Cost of Inaction Continues to Rise

Following up on yesterday's post about the media failing to accurately inform the public about the costs of inaction on global warming, we have this from the Triple Pundit:

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world will have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for each year it delays implementing serious action on global warming. This would be on top of the $10.5 trillion investment needed from 2010 to 2030 to boost renewable energy development and improve energy efficiency.

Of that $10.5 trillion, the IEA states that about 45 percent, or $4.7 trillion in investment will be in transportation. Just one more reason we continue to remain so bullish on the electrification of our transportation infrastructure, mass transit and high speed rail.

The IEA report also pointed out that to continue current trends of energy demand and burning fossil fuels would lead almost certainly to massive climate change and irreparable damage to the planet.

When I hear people complain that we can't solve global warming because it will wreck the economy, I think about whether, around 1900, people complained that we can't transition to automobiles because it would wreck the horse industry.

Just as the transition to cars revolutionized our economy in a way that improved lives for generations, so will the transition to a clean technology-powered economy.  In this case, as we frequently note here, the transition to a Green Economy will also help to alleviate many of our most pressing economic, health and security problems to boot!

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Read the L.A. Times coverage of the IEA Report, titled, "No Time to Waste on Climate Change, report Declares"...
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