{"id":367826,"date":"2025-02-27T06:59:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T05:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=367826"},"modified":"2025-02-27T06:59:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T05:59:33","slug":"claim-standard-of-living-to-soar-by-176-by-2100-if-no-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=367826","title":{"rendered":"Claim: Standard of Living to Soar by 176% by 2100 if No Climate Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Packs of dollars Background. Lots of cash money. 3d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Dennis Wesselbaum<\/a> thinks we should act on climate change \u2013 but economic harm is not a good justification for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Calculating the economic cost of climate change is tricky, even futile \u2013 it\u2019s also a distraction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: February 25, 2025 1.25pm AEDT
Dennis Wesselbaum<\/a>
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Otago<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It\u2019s here, it\u2019s real and it increasingly affects us all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

The panel\u2019s latest assessment report avoids quantifying the economic costs of climate change. So, to understand the economic costs of climate change, we can use the best estimate based on the previous report<\/a> and the insights from meta studies<\/a>. These analyses posit a temperature rise of 3.7\u00b0C will reduce global gross domestic product (GDP) by about 2.6% (ranging from 0.5 to 8.2%) by 2100.

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this comparison is extremely misleading. The value of 2.6% today will differ substantially from 2.6% in 75 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Zealand economy grew at a compound annual rate of 1.4% between 1960 and 2000. Using this same average growth rate, New Zealanders will have a 184% higher standard of living in 2100. If nothing is done to address climate change, and given the best cost estimate, our standard of living would still be 176% higher than it is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if we accept our best estimates, economic costs are not the issue, but saving the environment is.\u00a0

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/theconversation.com\/calculating-the-economic-cost-of-climate-change-is-tricky-even-futile-its-also-a-distraction-248862<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The professor also admits elsewhere in the article that evidence for more severe weather is inconclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this article quite refreshing. Significant global warming would cause changes if it occurs, though the extent and significance of those changes is open to debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do disagree with some of what Professor Wesselbaum wrote, I suspect the professor has the view nature is fragile. You lose that view very quickly if you spend any time living in the tropics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spend most of my \u201cnature\u201d time wondering what to do with all those blessed palm fronds which keep piling up and are difficult to burn. And where did that giant succulent which is crowding my lime tree come from? I\u2019m pretty sure it wasn\u2019t there last time I looked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had a flame thrower I could take down some of those fast growing tropical weeds which are infesting my driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the tropics (or near tropics in my case) the problem isn\u2019t preserving nature, the problem is smacking nature hard enough to keep it from invading your house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The professor also kind of overlooks other issues, such as the fact that some climate action such as carbon pricing functions as a potent regressive tax which slams poor people. So there are more considerations when deciding what climate action if any to take, than whether the local beach suffers increased erosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor\u00a0Dennis Wesselbaum\u00a0thinks we should act on climate change \u2013 but economic harm is not a good justification for doing so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":367829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691822338,691818087,691833562],"class_list":["post-367826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-economic-costs","tag-global-warming","tag-professor-dennis-wesselbaum","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1xGG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":448594,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=448594","url_meta":{"origin":367826,"position":0},"title":"The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished with the Demise of RCP8.5","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/05\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Any justification for Ed Miliband\u2019s Net Zero climate policy, whether real or imaginary, has vanished with the official abandonment by the IPCC of the scariest concentration scenario RCP8.5. 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