The real cost of climate change is higher than you think
- Mihir Sharma
- BloombergUpdated: Jun 27, 2024, 17:19 IST IST
We need high-quality data like that collected for employment or inflation to guide governments in their response
It isn’t hard to understand that global warming is already changing how we live. In New Delhi, this summer has been so hot — above 40°C even at night — that people are gasping, the tap water is scalding and the walls of their homes emit heat like radiators. The Saudi Arabian authorities said that 1,300 pilgrims have already died on this year’s Hajj. Players at the European football championships are collapsing due to exhaustion.
And yet economists — clearly able to keep cool heads when everybody else is losing theirs — are in the middle of a fresh debate about the real costs of climate change. A new working paper from two academics at Harvard and Northwestern, and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, argues that the macroeconomic damage from climate change might be as much as six times higher than previously estimated.
And yet economists — clearly able to keep cool heads when everybody else is losing theirs — are in the middle of a fresh debate about the real costs of climate change. A new working paper from two academics at Harvard and Northwestern, and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, argues that the macroeconomic damage from climate change might be as much as six times higher than previously estimated.
