Strong climate action is worth it

Their work calculates the relative benefits and costs of climate mitigation and climate impacts in three integrated assessment models. These models have traditionally focused on mitigation when simulating future climatic and economic trajectories but multi-model studies of the detailed economic impacts along these pathways remain limited. To bridge this gap, the researchers analyse these factors together to calculate the economically optimal emissions reductions and resulting global temperature trajectories for each model. The damage functions in the models, which relate the gross domestic product (GDP) to temperature and sea-level rise, account for impacts on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, floods, road infrastructure, energy supply and demand, and labour productivity. From a range of recent studies, the researchers collected evidence on each impact channel and calculated the combined effect on the economy in one computable general equilibrium model. By repeating this exercise for different climatic and socioeconomic scenarios and assumptions, the researchers derive region-specific damage functions, which can be implemented into integrated assessment models.