Economists want ‘drastic’ action to stop climate change: Survey

Two-thirds of respondents say economic benefits from net-zero emissions by 2050 would outweigh the cost of achieving it.

A growing number of climate economists say the world should take “immediate and drastic action” to tackle climate change, according to a survey published Tuesday. Failing to do so could cost the world some $1.7 trillion a year by the middle of this decade, escalating to about $30 trillion a year by 2075, according to estimates by the 738 economists from around the world surveyed by New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity. “People joke about how economists can’t agree on most things,” said Derek Sylvan, the institute’s strategy director and one of the authors of the survey. “But we seem to find a pretty strong level of consensus” on the economic importance of climate action.