World Bank Study Finds Large-Scale Benefits for 'Climate-Smart Development'

A new report, "Climate-Smart Development: Adding Up the Benefits of Actions that Help Build Prosperity, End Poverty and Combat Climate Change," focuses on five large countries—Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and the United States—plus the European Union for the benefits of climate friendly policies with regard to energy efficiency and clean transportation.

An article detailing the study, published by the World Bank, calls it the first to add up, on a large scale, "how government actions can boost economic performance and benefit lives, jobs, crops, energy, and GDP – as well as emissions reductions to combat climate change."

"In the transportation policy scenario, for example, if the five countries and the EU shifted more travel to public transit, moved more fright traffic off of roads to rails and sea, and improved fuel efficiency, they could save about 20,000 lives a year, avert hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses, save nearly $300 billion in energy, and reduce climate changing emissions by more than four gigatons."