After testimony by the German Institute for Economic Research, worldwide global harms of up to 214 trillion US dollars are expected in next 50 years due to a temperature increase of 1°C.

In the German national economy alone, further strains of up to 137 billion euros could be experienced.

In order to combat this climate change, greenhouse gases must be decreased by 60-80% by 2100. Experts believe that the Kyoto Protocol, which will go into effect on February 16, 2005, can drastically reduce the costs of necessary climate protection measures with instruments such as emissions trading.