The arguments of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to initiate the fight against climate change as soon as possible are “irrefutable”, report it Financial Times. Procrastinating too much to switch to renewable energy by 2030, says the institution, will cost more “States around the world in their effort to reduce CO emissions2 by 25% over the next eight years”, explains the British daily.
The implementation of emergency climate policies, if it involves “a ‘rapid’ transition to low-carbon technologies would cost the global economy between 0.15 and 0.25 points of GDP growth per year until 2030”. In comparison with a scenario where “governments apply neutral policies”, inflation would also increase by 0.1 to 0.4 percentage points per year. But, says the IMF: “The short-term economic costs are dwarfed by the myriad long-term benefits of slowing climate change.” Above all, in his note entitled “Climate policies: procrastination will hurt economic growth”, IMF economists hammer home: “The longer we wait, the more arbitration [entre production et inflation] is expensive.”
Taxing CO emissions2
To meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement of 2015, where 189 States committed to limiting global warming to less than 2°C and preferably to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era, it would be necessary reduce by “43% global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030”, according the latest report from the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
According to the IMF, the newspaper adds, “Achieving these targets requires a sharp increase in taxes on CO2 emissions2emissions regulations and significant investment in low-carbon technologies2”. And the IMF to explain:
“Policy makers need to be aware of the production losses their countries face in the long term if they do nothing about climate change.”