Stopping global warming and protecting the earth’s climate is a daunting 
challenge. To prevent a climate crisis we have to move quickly to 
transform the ways in which we create and use energy, develop petroleum-
free transportation, and much more. These changes will not be free; there 
is already resistance to paying for the first steps along this road. Some 
think that reaching for more ambitious mitigation targets, and quicker 
reductions in emissions, would mean economic disaster. Some economists 
have become known for advocating only slow and modest responses to climate 
change, lest the costs of mitigation become too large.

This report demonstrates that the 'go slow' recommendations are 
unjustified. A number of economic analyses, informed by recent scientific 
findings and using reasonable assumptions, suggest that more ambitious 
targets and quicker action make good economic sense. The warnings about 
climate change are growing steadily more ominous — but it has not, as a 
consequence, become impossibly expensive to save the planet. We can still 
afford a sustainable future.