Climate change could cost Canada billions: report

September 29, 2011

Canada can expect to pay $5 billion per year by 2020 and between $21 billion and $43 billion each year by 2050 if it fails to come up with a domestic plan within a global agreement to tackle climate change, according to an assessment released by a federal advisory panel.

Other key findings from the report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy include:

• Timber supply impacts could range from $2 billion to $17 billion per year, with high impacts in B.C.
• Flooding damages to coastal dwellings could cost between $1 billion to $8 billion per year. 
• Poorer air quality resulting from higher temperatures will result in millions of dollars in costs to local health care systems in Canada’s major cities.
• The economic benefits of investing in adaptation outweigh the costs of simply letting rising climate impacts and costs occur

The full report and an executive summary can be downloaded here