The Physical Costs of Climate Change, A Canadian Perspective
Canada is highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. But until now, we haven’t had an effective assessment of the physical risks and the potential cost to Canada from loss of biodiversity, sea-level rise, and infrastructure damage due to fires and floods. ISF fills this void with a new report which finds the total value of capital output lost due to climate change under different scenarios. The costs range from $2.773-trillion with 2°C warming by the end of the century, to almost double that amount at $5.520-trillion under a 5°C warming scenario. The report also compares the investments required to fight climate change to the cost of global warming, and finds the additional physical risks associated with higher warming scenarios are larger than the required investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, tackling climate change more than pays for itself in terms of avoided physical damage alone.
Download The Physical Costs of Climate Change, A Canadian Perspective report (PDF 737KB)
