According to a report released by the White House on Tuesday, waiting to mitigate the effects of climate change could end up costing the country a lot of money.

The report, titled "The Cost of Delaying Action to Stem Climate Change," says that the results of global warming are apparent all around the United States.

"The average temperature in the United States during the past decade was 0.8 Celsius (1.5 Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1901-1960 average, and the last decade was the warmest on record both in the United States and globally," the report reads.

In addition, the report cites sea level rise rates at 1.25 inches per decade (which seem to be increasing), hotter and more frequent heat waves in the west and increasing rain in Alaska and the continental U.S., "especially in the Midwest and Northeast," as evidence that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are causing changes in the country.

The White House's Council of Economic Advisers, who advises the president on economic policy, according to TIME, studied more than 100 plans on battling climate change from 16 different studies to determine economic costs. According to the report, the longer the U.S. waits to combat anthropogenic causes, the costlier climate change becomes.

"An analysis of research on the cost of delay for hitting a specified climate target (typically, a given concentration of greenhouses gases) suggests that net mitigation costs increase, on average by approximately 40 percent for each decade of delay," the report explains.

The global temperature rises to 3 C (37.4 F) above that of before the Industrial Revolution during continued lax mitigation processes, costs would increase by around 0.9 percent of global economic output. For example, 0.9 percent the U.S.' economic output for 2014 is an estimated $150 billion.

According to NPR, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to implement federal regulations to reduce power plants' carbon dioxide emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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