Posted: Thursday, 5 June 2008

Labour’s Urgent Need to Address the Climate Crisis Canada and the world must address the climate crisis, the most pressing issue of our times. Policies are needed that will be quickly implemented to achieve significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, as to reduce the harmful effects of climate change. Nicholas Stern, former World Bank chief economist, estimates the impacts of unmitigated climate change could cost the world economy $7 trillion or the equivalent of $1000 per year for every person on the planet. The cost of inaction, including employment losses, is far greater than the cost of taking action on climate change and moving to a much less carbon-intensive economy. This conclusion is echoed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.

With our current rate of fossil fuel consumption, the increase in global average temperature will lead to widespread, harmful global impacts over the coming century. Rapid deterioration of ecosystems, large-scale losses of biodiversity, detrimental rising sea levels,significant increases in extreme weather events and a profound disruption to industry and human populations will result. The global economy will pay a high cost if average global temperatures rise more than 2°C in relation to pre-industrial levels.

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