Big increase in economic costs if cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are delayed

Stronger efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions should be undertaken to avoid global warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius -- without relying on potentially more expensive or risky technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface.

Researchers from UEA, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Imperial College London assessed almost 200 published academic papers on climate change, including recent studies about the economics of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC.

They noted that economics analyses produce inconclusive results about the value of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC.

The paper states: "Due to large uncertainties about the economic costs and, in particular, the benefits, there can be no clear answer to the question of whether the 1.5ºC target passes a cost-benefit test."