UN forecasts huge rise in costs of emissions reduction

You won’t have seen this anywhere in the Australian media, of course, but the UN Framework Commission on Climate Change has just revised its estimates of the cost of emissions reductions, upwards by 170%. Hands up who thinks this won’t be the last upward revision?

The report, to be presented at the December 1-12 conference in Poznan, Poland updates 2007 estimates that said investment to mitigate carbon emissions had to be ramped up in the coming years, reaching between 200-210 billion dollars annually in 2030.
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It cited “higher projected capital costs,” especially in the energy sector, to introduce solar panels and fuel cells that had yet to become competitive with fossil fuels.

There was also the potential bill for implementing carbon storage, a technology that is still at the pilot stage, said the report.

Nothing in this should surprise anyone, of course. What does surprise us is the fact that this comes from the UN itself…

Read it here.