Arya News - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling on the international community to make a decisive change of course in environmental and climate policy. Humanity faces
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling on the international community to make a decisive change of course in environmental and climate policy.
Humanity faces "a simple choice," Executive Director Inger Andersen said at the presentation of the Seventh Global Environment Outlook in Nairobi on Tuesday.
This is either to "continue on a path towards a future ravaged by climate change, dwindling nature, degraded land and polluted air, or to change course to ensure a healthy planet, healthy people and healthy economies," she said.
The report was compiled by 287 scientists from various disciplines in 82 countries. According to the UNEP, it is the most comprehensive scientific assessment of the global environment to date.
In order to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and ensure sufficient funding for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, annual investments of around $8 trillion are required, Andersen said. But the costs of inaction would be far higher, she emphasized.
The costs of extreme weather events alone, which are attributed to climate change over the past 20 years, are estimated at $143 billion annually.
According to the report, the economic costs of the damage to health caused by air pollution alone amounted to around $8.1 trillion in 2019. This corresponds to around 6.1% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
Without countermeasures, global temperatures are expected to rise by more than two degrees Celsius, the report says. Scientists predict that climate change would reduce annual global GDP by 4% by 2050 and by 20% by the end of the century.
If the world"s economies were to move towards sustainable agriculture and an economy that avoids CO2 emissions, global macroeconomic benefits would be seen from 2050 onwards, rising to $20 trillion annually by 2070.