It is chaired by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and advised by Lord Stern, former UK government economist and author of a previous review of climate change economics.
Its report says one key to safeguarding the climate is to change spending priorities for new infrastructure.
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Former president of Mexico Felipe Calderon explains the findings
Creating sprawling car-dependent cities will lock in high pollution, whilst planning dense cities with good public transport will help keep emissions down, cut local pollution and improve quality of life, it says.
The commission says that by developing in this way, governments can collectively save $3 trillion over the next 15 years.