INTERNATIONAL - Stringent limits on global warming would bolster the world economy by averting tens of trillions of dollars in damage this century from heat waves, droughts and floods, a US study said yesterday.
The report, among the first to assess the economics of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, said the toughest temperature curbs would benefit 90percent of the world’s population, especially in poor nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The world’s biggest economies - the US, China and Japan - would also gain if the world achieves the toughest targets, according to the study led by researchers at Stanford University and published in the journal Nature.
Russia, Canada and the Nordic countries, where rising temperatures could boost farm output and limit deaths from winter cold, would be among a few nations to suffer economically from tough curbs on global warming, the study said.
The Paris accord, among almost 200 nations, set a goal of limiting a rise in world surface temperatures to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial times by 2100, while “pursuing efforts” for 1.5°C.