World Bank report calls for smart policy to combat climate change

Government policies that improve energy efficiency, waste management and public transport could increase global economic output by trillions of U.S. dollars a year, a World Bank report showed on Monday.
The "Adding up the Benefits" report, which focuses on Brazil, China, India, Mexico, the United States and the European Union, found that government policies stimulating a shift to clean transport and improved energy efficiency in factories, buildings and appliances could increase global GDP growth by about 1.8-26 trillion U.S. dollars a year by 2030.
"The report's findings show clearly that the right policy choices can deliver significant benefits to lives, jobs, crops, energy , and GDP, as well as emissions reductions to combat climate change," said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank.
The policies could avert approximately 94,000 premature deaths from pollution-related diseases a year in 2030 as well as prevent the production of greenhouse gas emissions roughly equivalent to taking 2 billion cars off the road.
If fully implemented, the set of regulatory, tax and other policy actions outlined in the report could account for 30 percent of the total emissions reduction needed in 2030 to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
The report advised India to built new bus rapid transit lanes, Mexico to equip 90 percent of its pig and dairy farms with biogas and solar energy systems, and China to deploy 70 million clean cookstoves.
The report was released in advance of the U.N. Secretary General's Climate Summit in September when heads of state and government will meet in New York to discuss actions of combating climate change.