Climate action pays off: Every tonne of greenhouse gases avoided reduces damage to health, prosperity, infrastructure and the economy
Greenhouse gases and other pollutant emissions not only harm the environment and the climate; they also cause significant damage to the economy and human health. Appropriate measures can prevent these damages. To make these effects visible and comparable, the German Environment Agency has been using scientific models to calculate the economic cost of environmental pollution and climate change since 2007. The new “Environmental Costs Handbook – Methodological Convention 4.0” has been updated and expanded to help politicians and businesses make sound decisions.
Be it crop failures as a result of droughts, infrastructure damage by floods, or respiratory diseases caused by particulate matter: Environmental pressures such as greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions cause a wide range of damage to society – at an immense cost. To better assess the scale of damage and the benefits of preventive measures, and to factor them into political and economic decisions, it can be helpful to convert them into euros. Taking environmental costs into account can support management and investment decisions as well as sustainability reporting in businesses. In the public sector, environmental costs can help to better estimate the impacts of new legislation or infrastructure investments.
According to current modelling, the greenhouse gas emissions released in Germany in 2024 will, over the time they remain in the atmosphere, incur losses in global welfare amounting to EUR 647 billion, if damages for present and future generations are weighted equally.
These figures are based on the climate damage cost rates from the newly released “Environmental Costs Handbook – Methodological Convention 4.0” from the German Environment Agency (UBA), as well as provisional data on German greenhouse gas emissions in 2024.
“Calculations based on the new handbook show the tremendous damage our emissions cause at home and worldwide,” says UBA President Dirk Messner. “If we are to take the damages for present and future generations seriously, we must view climate action as a central element of economic and social precaution. Every tonne of greenhouse gases avoided reduces real damage: to health, prosperity, infrastructure and the economy. The Environmental Costs Handbook clearly shows that climate change will be costly and underscores the need for ambitious climate action.”
In addition to greenhouse gases, the handbook provides cost rates for the following areas:
• Emissions of air pollutants
• Environmental impacts of electricity and heat generation
• Environmental impacts of transport, including noise
• Emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus
• Environmental impacts in agriculture
Further information:
Accuracy of the data
The cost rates are based on modelling and should be regarded as approximate values. They reflect the order of magnitude of the damages as a nationwide average for Germany. Where available, local data should be used to assess local damage, for example as a result of nitrogen emissions.
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