Jobs from acting on global climate

Cap and trade probably isn't free, although the benefits may be twice as great as the costs. Now there's more evidence that acting to halt climate change may benefit the economy.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he hopes to break the "deadlock" in global climate talks with evidence that 10 million jobs could be created by 2020, if developing nations agree to big cuts in greenhouse gases.

Blair, heading up a climate initiative, released a report that also shows a global climate agreement could increase the world's GDP by 0.8 percent by 2020, as compared with the projected gross domestic product with no climate action. (from the Associated Press)

I haven't been able to find a copy of the report, but I'm sure some economists will note that while creating 10 million jobs is a wonderful thing, it's not clear from the press report whether that's 10 million new jobs after absorbing job losses from carbon-intensive industries. If not, the net benefits could be substantially smaller than promised.

Don't get me wrong. Climate action is clearly worth the cost. I'm just a little skeptical that it's free. There is no such thing as a free lunch.