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Cost-effective actions to tackle climate change

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a policy brief summarizing OECD analyses showing that the cost of action to mitigate climate change would be minimized if a cost-effective set of policy instruments, with a focus on carbon pricing, were applied as broadly as possible across all emission sources, including all countries, sectors, and greenhouse gases. Considering governments around the world have reached consensus on the need to achieve large cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the coming decades, and given the magnitude of emission cuts required to stabilize GHG concentrations at an acceptable level, the brief highlights it is imperative that action to mitigate climate change is taken at the lowest cost. The brief notes that although broad-based international action covering all main emitters might be difficult to achieve, incentives for countries to participate in such ambitious international action can be enhanced through a range of instruments, including financial and technological support.

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