President: Cost can’t deter action on climate change

Inaction to reverse the effects of climate change will be more costly than a quick and timely approach, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday. In a speech at the U.N. Climate Change Summit in New York, Erdoğan emphasized that the costliness of the measures against climate change should not deter countries from taking action.

"Reducing the global warming by minus 2 degrees Celsius requires a fundamental change in production and consumption practices along with new developmental strategies," he said. "This is only possible with activating additional financial resources and using new technologies." He added that concrete steps should be taken in a way to boost domestic and foreign investments, create new employment opportunities and to contribute to energy security.

Otherwise, he said, the irreversible economic and ecological harms of climate change would impede economic growth and sustainable development.