Here’s an interesting news item from the ABC about a report commissioned by 6 big companies (not known to be Eco-warriors or Greenies) including BP Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation and carried out by CSIRO and Allen Consulting Group which claims that delaying action on climate change would harm the Australian economy when compared with having to take action later.

The ACF’s press release on the report is here and the actual report is linked from here.

Interesting points from the press release:

• A 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is possible while maintaining strong economic growth, with real GDP averaging 2.1 per cent p.a. through to 2050 if early action is taken;
• In comparison to early action, delaying action to 2022 would result in lower real GDP growth by an average of 0.2 per cent p.a. through to 2050, and concentrate any disruptive shocks over a shorter period;
• An additional 3.5 million jobs will still be created in the economy under the early action scenario over the period 2013-2050; equating to 250,000 more jobs than under the delayed action scenario.