According to a new study, the current economic impacts of climate change amount to more than $1.2 trillion a year, or 1.6 percent of the annual global GDP.

The study, commissioned by 20 international governments, was produced by the DARA research centre, with more than 50 contributing scientists, economists and policy experts. The researchers estimate that by 2030, the cost of climate change and air pollution combined will rise to 3.2 percent of global GDP annually.

Climate change will have the biggest impact in the developing world, which, according to the report, will suffer losses of up to 11 percent of GDP by 2030. Major economies are expected to experience a two percent decline in GDP by that time.

The report concludes that the worst economic impacts of climate change can be avoided if strong action is taken in the very near future to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to global warming.

Climate change is expected to have a major impact on the world economy and for Canada, a country that depends so much on its natural resources, the economic impacts could be severe.

Along Canada’s West Coast, rising ocean temperatures have weakened the economic viability of some salmon species by’reducing the survival rates of spawning salmon.

Forests in British Columbia (BC) have been devastated by the mountain pine beetle, which thrives in the increasingly warm winters we are experiencing.