Recently, the “Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change” conducted by the treasury of the U.K. concluded that the likely future economic impacts of climate change are far greater than the cost of stabilizing emissions. The report estimates that the costs of stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations at around 550 ppm would be about one percent of global gross domestic product by 2050. Meanwhile the report estimates that the economic cost of a “business as usual” scenario of continued increases in emissions could be as high as the value of reducing global consumption by five to 20 percent. The report concludes that the costs of taking action are potentially much lower than those of inaction and that immediate steps are needed to have a chance of restraining CO2 concentrations to the 550-ppm level.