UN puts a figure on Global Warming costs

In the past the United Nations has said that in order to pay for sea defences, damage to infrastructure, and deaths from global warming that will occur by 2030 it would cost anywhere from £25b to £105b.

The news appears to be more grim however as a study released by the Gratham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London and International Institute for Environment and Development now estimates the costs would increase three times that amount every passing year.

This is due to the fact that the UN Framework Convention on Climate change failed to account for factors such as diseases that may be caused by warmer weather and an increase in storms over past years due to global warming.

Former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Professor Martin Perry, said that the estimate also did not include sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, energy, mining, and retailing.
Perry added that the UK by itself would spend approximately a few billion on flood defences, upgrading homes, and fixing roads so globally the figures would have to be much higher.

In about 100 days 90 countries will meet in Copenhagen at a UNFCCC conference to discuss climate change and how to combat it. It is expected that rich countries will be advised to reduce their carbon emissions.

Currently, only about £60b has been placed towards combating global warming by developed countries annually.

Perry stated that the amount of money that is pledged at the conference would have a great deal of influence as to how well the talks go and negotiations to reduce the threat of global warming.