Costs associated with inaction in the face of climate change in Chile: a synthesis

This document presents a synthesis of the quantification of the costs of inaction, towards the middle and end of the century, in the face of a high representative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions concentration trajectory (RCP 8.5) in Chile, in eight key economic sectors and areas of the country: agriculture, drinking water, biodiversity, energy, mining, fishing and aquaculture, ports and beaches, and health. In addition to the calculation of costs, for some sectors state policies or programs are identified that have an impact on the effects of climate change, generating different degrees of progress required for adaptation and mitigation. General methodological aspects are included, the approach for measuring the economic costs of inaction is described and the costs of inaction for each sector are presented. The results indicate that the costs are high in some of the sectors studied. However, it should be noted that the estimation is not exhaustive, as not all sectors susceptible to climate change were considered. In several sectors (health, agriculture, drinking water and beaches) the main costs are in the central part of the country, partly due to the concentration of the population in that area.