The Economics of 350
The Benefits and Costs of Climate Stabilization

America’s largest network of independent climate economists has issued a major new report showing that the more aggressive world leaders are in curbing world carbon emissions, the greater the economic benefits will be.

The two lead authors, GDAE Research Fellows Frank Ackerman and Elizabeth A. Stanton, co-authored the report with researchers from universities and think-tanks across the country. The report argues that a worldwide effort to lower atmospheric carbon concentrations to 350 parts per million is affordable; it can create more new jobs, spur more innovation and protect businesses, governments and households from the damages caused by the rapid heating of the earth.

The report concludes that the estimated cost of reaching a target of 350 parts per million is roughly equivalent to one to three percent of world gross domestic product, while the financial, human and environmental cost of not stabilizing the earth at 350 parts per million over the next 200 years will likely be much greater.

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Frank Ackerman presented the report to a large audience at the Society for Environmental Journalists annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 9, 2009. Download presentation (pdf)