A major United Nations assessment reveals the true cost of unsustainable practices, urging transformation before “collapse becomes inevitable”
The way humanity currently produces food and energy is inflicting environmental damage worth $5 billion every single hour, according to a comprehensive new report from the United Nations Environment Program.
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) report, compiled by nearly 200 researchers from around the world, paints a sobering picture of the hidden costs embedded in our daily necessities. Over the course of a year, these practices generate approximately $45 trillion in environmental damage through climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and ecosystem degradation.
“This is an urgent call to transform our human systems now before collapse becomes inevitable,” said Professor Edgar GutiĂ©rrez-Espeleta, co-chair of the assessment and former environment minister of Costa Rica.
Breaking Down the Damage
The report identifies three major contributors to this staggering environmental bill:
- Food systems: $20 trillion annually, driven by industrial agriculture, deforestation, excessive fertiliser use, and methane emissions from livestock
- Transport: $13 trillion per year, primarily from fossil fuel-powered vehicles
- Electricity generation: $12 trillion annually from coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants
Professor Robert Watson, the report’s other co-chair, emphasised that these are no longer simply environmental issues. “They are all undermining our economy, food security, water security, human health, and they are also national security issues, leading to conflict in many parts of the world.”
More Than an Environmental Crisis
The GEO report reframes climate change and environmental degradation as interconnected economic, political, and security threats. Resource stress and climate impacts are already contributing to instability and conflict in vulnerable regions worldwide.
Watson noted that climate warming may be progressing faster than previously thought. “We are likely to be underestimating the magnitude of climate change,” he said, pointing out that global temperatures have exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least two years running, with the last decade being the hottest on record.
The Cost of Inaction vs. Action
While the damage figures are alarming, the report emphasises that the costs of addressing these issues are far less than the costs of inaction over the long term.
The assessment estimates that bold climate action would begin generating macroeconomic benefits by 2050, potentially reaching $20 trillion annually by 2070 and $100 trillion by 2100. Achieving these benefits would require approximately $8 trillion in annual investment from now until 2050.
“We need visionary countries and private sector companies to recognise they will make more profit by addressing these issues rather than ignoring them,” Watson said.
Practical Solutions on the Table
The report outlines several concrete measures that could drive transformation:
Subsidy reform: The world currently spends about $1.5 trillion annually on environmentally harmful subsidies to fossil fuels, food production, and mining. Removing fossil fuel subsidies alone could cut emissions by one-third, according to the report.
Pricing externalities: The true environmental and health costs of energy and food need to be reflected in their prices to shift consumer behaviour toward greener choices. Watson stressed this must be accompanied by social safety nets to protect the poorest members of society.
Dietary shifts: The report suggests measures such as taxes on meat and subsidies for healthy, plant-based foods to address the massive environmental footprint of industrial livestock farming.
Technology adoption: Wind and solar energy are already cheaper than fossil fuels in many places, but vested interests continue to hold back their adoption.
Political Obstacles
The comprehensive 1,100-page report is typically accompanied by a summary for policymakers agreed upon by all participating countries. However, this year, no agreement was reached due to strong objections from countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Argentina to references about phasing out fossil fuels, reducing plastics, and shifting dietary patterns.
The United States reportedly did not attend the final meeting, with Watson noting that US representatives later stated they could not agree with most of the report’s conclusions on climate change, biodiversity, fossil fuels, plastics, and subsidies.
A Choice That Remains
Despite political resistance, the report’s message is clear: transformation is still possible, but time is running out. The world must choose between continuing on its current path—which the report warns will lead to accelerating environmental deterioration and declining human wellbeing—or implementing the known solutions that could create a more sustainable and prosperous future.
As Watson summarised: “The science is robust, and the solutions are known. What is missing is the political courage, and increasingly the time, to implement them.”
The full GEO-7 report is available at the UN Environment Program website, offering detailed pathways for behavioural and technological change that could help restore balance with nature while delivering significant economic benefits for generations to come.
