[HIGHLIGHTS] 38 trillion in one year: How much climate change will cost the economy

In 2050, the global economy will lose 19 percent compared to a world without climate change. In concrete terms, that's $38 trillion.

The costs of limiting global warming to two degrees will be almost six trillion dollars by the middle of the century. This means the damage is six times higher than the cost of not limiting warming to 2 degrees. The study shows that climate change will cause massive economic damage in almost all countries in the world over the next 25 years. It costs us far less to protect the climate than not to do so, says study leader Leonie Wenz. The consequences of the crisis reveal massive inequality, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) says. The researchers analyzed empirical findings on how weather changes and extremes have influenced economic growth in 1,600 subnational regions over the last 40 years and transferred them to the next 26 years using 21 climate models. They then compared how the reduction in regional gross domestic product compares to a world without additional climate change.