ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg officials have overwhelmingly adopted the language of the "Green New Deal," aiming to be the first Florida city to be a zero carbon emissions-producing city within 10 years.

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Several cost estimates to implement it nationwide are in the tens of trillions of dollars.

The Pinellas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America pushed for the initiative in St. Pete, which adopted the language 7-1. It's the group's position that residents will pay, regardless — they will pay now, pay more later, and pay even more if they do nothing.

“Either you're going to pay for it now and put in place mitigation solutions, or we're going to pay down the road with all the impact of climate change,” marine biologist Dr. Catherine Jadot said. "For every dollar that we spend now in mitigation solutions, we are going to have to spend $4 in 2020 to just achieve the same results."

Other costs associated with addressing sea level rise are as follows:

A study by the University of Colorado says it will cost Pinellas County $3 billion by 2040 to build sea walls for flood protection.

That's an additional $3,000 per resident.

The Pinellas County budget today is $2.4 billion.

A study by the Brookings Institute's Metropolitan Policy Program recently ranked the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater area's economy as the second hardest hit U.S. metropolitan area hit by climate change. Lakeland was ranked first and Bradenton fifth.

Florida would see some of the nation's worst economic effects if no action is taken to mitigate climate change, according to the research.