Failing to address climate change could significantly hurt many industries in the world economy that are together worth around $7 trillion, according to a report by the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust. The report examined six different sectors of the world economy — aluminum, automotive, building materials, consumer electronics, oil and gas, and, uh … brewing — and found that businesses from every sector that don’t prepare for the low-carbon economy of the future stand to lose value or put their company’s value at risk. However, the report found, forward-thinking, early-acting companies stand to increase in value by up to 80 percent. “Climate change will cause a revolution in business and our findings should act as a trillion-dollar wake-up call to the investment and business communities,” said Carbon Trust’s Tom Delay. “Companies and investors that prepare now and develop new strategies will reap the commercial rewards of the move to a low-carbon economy. The financial risks of inaction are just too vast to ignore.”
