"The failure to act on climate policy and its economic consequences for Austria are being analysed in numerous ongoing and completed research projects. The current coronavirus crisis has given the topic renewed urgency, as the political direction being set now will also be decisive for tackling the climate crisis.
This report summarises the key findings from this research, places them in a current overall context, and addresses in particular the following areas: the costs of inaction on climate policy in the context of economic recovery following the coronavirus lockdown, the direct and indirect societal follow-on costs of climate-related damage, the effects of climate policy inaction on public finances, domestic value creation and the financial sector, as well as the societal follow-on costs of climate-damaging support measures and insufficient innovation. We summarise these findings in three statements.
The follow-on costs are presented as comprehensively as possible and, where available, also monetised, in order to better compare the costs and benefits of climate protection and adaptation. Many significant impacts, such as the effects of climate change on biodiversity or a range of health-related consequences, cannot yet be quantified — though they are no less important for that. Only by looking at both the qualitatively discussed and the already monetarily quantifiable impacts together can the full range of effect dimensions be revealed. These are analysed here as the consequences of inaction on climate policy or — from the opposite perspective — as the many opportunities that action and thus sustainable policy can open up..."
