Germany: $1.3 trillion climate change bill

HAMBURG, Germany, March 27 (UPI) -- Germany is facing up to $1.26 trillion in costs until 2050 because of global warming, according to a new study.

"Economic damages will become greater in all of Germany, but the poorer states will suffer much more than the rich states," Claudia Kemfert, chief energy expert at the Germany Institute for Economic Affairs, said about her institute's in-house study.

The effects of climate change will differ from region to region, the report found. Northern Germany will see warmer average temperatures that could revive tourism at the Baltic and North Sea coasts; in central and southwestern Germany, extreme rainfalls and thunderstorms will become the norm, while southern and eastern Germany will be hit by drought periods. By 2050, skiing in the German Alps will probably be impossible.

"Especially in southern Germany, farmers will have to get ready for periods of water shortage," Kemfert said at the report's presentation at a climate-change conference in Hamburg.

It coincides with a discussion at the EU level whether poorer regions are to receive aid to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.