UN: Could Cost Up to 4 Percent of Global Economic Output by 2030 to "Contain" Climate Change

Nothing beside remains

The cost of containing rising temperatures to safe levels may reach 4 percent of economic output by 2030, according to a draft United Nations report designed to influence talks for a global-warming treaty.

Most scenarios that meet the 2-degree Celsius (3.6-degree Fahrenheit) cap on global warming that world leaders endorse require a 40 percent to 70 percent reduction in heat-trapping gases by 2050 from 2010 levels, according to the third installment of the UN's biggest-ever study of climate change. The world would need to triple the share of renewables, nuclear power and carbon-capture and storage to meet that.