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The climate crisis is more than a political topic of discussion. Economists are already outlining the potential for worsening inequality, trillions of dollars in climate-related damages, and depressed global growth. According to the Institute for Policy Integrity at the NYU School of Law’s latest survey, about 74% of economists agree that “immediate and drastic” action is needed to cut emissions.

As economic director of the American think tank Institute for Policy Integrity and researcher on the social cost of carbon, Peter Howard's work tries to estimate the damages done to the environment and human health by CO2 emissions. Recently, Peter Howard published with his colleague Derek Sylvan the results of one of the largest polls of international economists who have analyzed various effects of climate change. It seems that, even in this discipline, a certain consensus on this problem is beginning to form.

Some of the more interesting survey findings come from groups who seem more credible than consumers in their opinions. Economists, for example. Consider a recent global survey conducted by the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. Nearly three-quarters of the 738 economists around the world who responded said they agree "immediate and drastic action is necessary" to address the climate crisis.

The business lobby is using a Texas legal challenge to frustrate the Biden administration’s agenda for the gig economy and throw up burdensome roadblocks for the U.S. Labor Department as it moves to nix a Trump-era rule on independent contractors. “These are legal skirmishes designed to kind of raise the cost of changing the rule,” said Richard Revesz, an administrative law professor at New York University.

A recent survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Integrity at New York University, found consensus has increased dramatically among economists who study climate change. Now, the vast majority say that the crisis will shrink the global GDP if we don't take action now. The 738 climate economists surveyed widely agree that "the costs of inaction on climate change are higher than the costs of action, and that immediate, aggressive emissions reductions are economically desirable," according to a report on the survey's findings published Tuesday.

While scientists and campaigners continue calling on world leaders to pursue more ambitious policies to cut planet-heating emissions based on moral arguments and physical dangers, a U.S. think tank released survey results on Tuesday that make a clear economic case for sweeping climate action. The Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law invited 2,169 Ph.D. economists to take a 15-question online survey "focused on climate change risks, economic damage estimates, and emissions abatement," according to a report on the results.

Calling its poll the largest-ever expert survey on the economics of climate change, New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity said the results show an “overwhelming consensus that the costs of inaction on climate change are higher than the costs of action”— namely, immediate reductions in emissions. The $1.7 trillion would amount to a 1% decline in projected global gross domestic product (GDP). 

Almost three fourths of economists in a recent survey said that "immediate and drastic action is necessary" to address climate change, with nearly 80 percent reporting that their concerns have grown over the past five years. The survey of more than 2,000 Ph.D. economists is conducted annually by the Institute for Policy Integrity and the results show that the consensus is building that the cost of reaching net-zero emissions would likely outweigh the costs. "People who spend their careers studying our economy are in widespread agreement that climate change will be expensive, potentially devastatingly so," Peter Howard, economics director at the Institute for Policy Integrity, said in a statement to CNN. 

The vast majority of economists with expertise in climate change agree that the benefits of deep emissions cuts outweigh the costs, a survey shows. Researchers at the Institute for Policy Integrity at the NYU School of Law said they believe their new research is the "largest-ever expert survey on the economics of climate change."

Economists predicted climate change will hurt the economy and worsen income inequality, and said efforts to mitigate change would be cheaper than dealing with the effects of it. The New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity heard from 738 economists, all of whom had published articles on climate in 45 top-rated economics, environmental economics and development economics journals.