50% higher costs in 2050 compared to timely action

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warns that societies will incur costly consequences by 2050 in the areas of climate change, biodiversity, water and health if actions are not taken to help put the world on a more sustainable path.


According to the report delayed or only moderate action up to 2020 (such as waiting for better technologies to come on stream) would lead to 50% higher costs in 2050 compared to timely action, and potentially entail higher environmental risk.


OECD (2012). OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction. OECD Publishing. Key Facts and Figures are available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/25/39/49910023.pdf