Whenever the subject of the earth’s warming trend and the human factors that affect it comes up for debate, the common assumption is that the cost of cutting greenhouse gases is too prohibitive to seriously contemplate. But, according to the New York Times, a new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate says that an ambitious set of measures to limit carbon emissions would cost $15 trillion over the next few years — a sum that is only 5% above the amount that would likely be spent anyway on new powerplants, transit systems and related infrastructure.
What’s more, when the Commission calculated the savings that could be contemplated from greener policies — such as lower fuel costs, fewer deaths from air pollution and reduced medical bills, they estimate the changes could end up saving money. “We are proposing a way to have the same or even more economic growth, and at the same time have environmental responsibility,” said the chairman of the commission, Felipe Calderón, an economist and the former president of Mexico. “We need to fix this problem of climate change, because it’s affecting all of us.”