"We say climate change is a material risk," David McLaughlin, head of the NTREE advisory panel.

Previous analysis done by the round table shows that climate change will drain $5 billion a year from the Canadian economy by 2020. The costs will climb steeply after that, chopping Canadian economic activity by between $21 billion and $43 billion a year by 2050, depending on how much action is taken to reduce greenhouse gases by then.

At the same time a April 23, 2012 report, "Tracking Clean Energy Progress," by the International Energy Agency (IEA) says governments around the world must "level the playing field" to ensure clean energy technologies grow fast enough to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.

"Transition to a low-carbon energy sector is affordable and represents tremendous business opportunities, but investor confidence remains low due to policy frameworks that do not provide certainty and address key barriers to technology deployment. Private sector financing will only reach the levels required if governments create and maintain supportive business environments for low-carbon energy technologies," says the IEA report.