Tackling the effects of climate change could cost governments around the world more than $ 100 billion a year , a United Nations panel of experts said Monday . A report by the U.N. 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , says that a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius will wipe out up to 2 % of the world 's income by 2050 . But it says the price tag could grow even higher if the world 's governments fail to address the looming climate change . `` If we get up to 4 degrees temperature rise , which most scientists now expect would happen if we carry on emitting greenhouse gasses as we do , then the cost could be much more severe , '' Chris Hope , a climate change researcher at Cambridge University said . The combined cost of crop losses , rising sea levels , higher temperatures and fresh water shortages could mount of to between $ 70 and $ 100 billion a year , the report said . But these estimates do not account for catastrophic scenarios , which researchers said tend to have the most devastating effect . Typhoon Haiyan , which swept through Philippines in November , killed 6,000 people and cost more than $ 10 billion . When severe floods hit parts of the UK earlier this year , the Federation of Small Businesses estimated the overall cost to businesses to be $ 1.3 billion . And according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture , the 2012 drought -- the worst in 25 years -- pushed up poultry prices by 5.5 % and egg prices by 7 % . The report says crop yields will fall by 2 % per decade , as the rising temperature affects some of the world 's major crops -- such as rice , maze or wheat . Carbon dioxide benchmark hits new heights , worries scientists . Hope said that if people continue to emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere , the bill will grow for everyone . `` It looks as though it 's about $ 125 worth of extra impact for every one more ton of Carbon Dioxide we put in the atmosphere -- that comes up to around $ 0.20 per a liter of gasoline , '' he said . `` Businesses must expect that , if we are serious about climate change , at some point they are going to be charged that kind of money if they carry on using gas coal , oil , gas , fossil fuels which emit those kind of gasses to the atmosphere , '' he added . The report , released in Yokohama , Japan , is the second part of the IPCC 's benchmark assessment of climate change , a document released every six years . Nearly 1,000 scientists contributed to it . Read more : Wake up to the reality of climate changeRead more : Little time left to turn down the world 's heatOpinion : Why are we still debating climate change ?
Climate change could cost more than $ 100 billion a year , the UN panel of experts said . Experts say the bill could be much higher if emissions continue at the current pace . The report is the second part of the IPCC 's benchmark assessment of climate change .