Thursday, September 3, 2009

Assessing the Costs of Adapting to Climate Change

The review of previous studies by the International Institute for Environment and Development dated August 2009 concludes that this re-assessment of the UNFCCC estimates for 2030 suggests that they are likely to be substantial under-estimates. The purpose of this report is to illustrate the uncertainties in these estimates rather than to develop new cost estimates, which is a much larger task than can be accomplished here.

The main reasons for under-estimation are that: (i) some sectors have not been included in an assessment of cost;
(ii) some of those sectors which have been included have been only partially covered; and
(iii) the additional costs of adaptation have sometimes been calculated as ‘climate mark-ups’ against low levels of assumed investment.

Residual damages also need to be evaluated and reported because not all damages can be avoided due to technical and economic constraints.

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