University of Melbourne & Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute
Research reveals that transitioning to a low carbon economy is sound economic development and will provide many social and environmental benefits.
Australia's Clean Economy Future: Costs and Benefits is a first-ever comparison of the costs of emission reduction in Australia relative to the potential damages from climate change under current policy settings.
The paper by SGS and the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Sustainable Societies Institute (MSSI) found that transitioning to a low-carbon economy is sound economic development: even when the benefits of reduced emissions are ignored, the economic benefits of a transition to a low-carbon economy easily outweigh the costs.
The research considered all options available to state governments in Australia — particularly the Queensland and Victorian governments — to transition to a clean economy and consider the costs of these options, compared to the costs of doing nothing and the cost benefits of avoiding potential damages in the future.
This is one of the first times that costs of mitigation are considered relative to the environmental, social and economic benefits and damages that can be avoided when an economy transitions from fossil fuels to renewables.
