A new study published in Nature, titled “Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets,” analyzes what savings the United States is losing out on due to Donald Trump’s insistence in pulling out of the UN Paris Agreement on climate change. Writing in The Hill, the researchers from Stanford explain that while the Trump administration has attempted to deflect criticisms surrounding this change in policy by saying the Paris Agreement is not economically viable for the U.S., the facts are simply the opposite.
We estimate that beneficiaries will include not only the world’s poorest countries, which stand to benefit substantially, but also many wealthier countries, including the United States. In fact, we calculate the cumulative savings to the U.S. economy alone of meeting the most ambitious Paris targets could total $6 trillion (in today’s dollars). [...]
Prior to our study, accurate, quantitative estimates of those benefits were not available. Now, we find that the benefits of achieving the ambitious Paris targets are perhaps 30 times larger than the costs. Basically, every dollar spent on mitigation generates many more dollars in benefits by preventing more serious damage from occurring. We also find that most countries are likely to share in these benefits, including the U.S., China, and most of the world’s poorest countries.
Six trillion might help fill in some of that tax-scam-sized hole the Republican Party blew in our national deficit. Trump and the Republican Party on not known for good ideas, they’re known for greedy and selfish ones.