Climate change can make you poorer, countries near equator could face the brunt of crisis
The deepening climate crisis is expected to make the global economy lose about 19% income in the next 25 years, according to a recent study published on the journal Nature. Countries least responsible for the problem and having minimum resources to adapt could suffer the most.
Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany released the study this month, highlighting that climate impacts are likely to cost the global economy a staggering $38 trillion a year by 2049, stressing the true scale of the problem.
Scientist Leonie Wenz said: “Our analysis shows climate change will cause massive economic damages within the next 25 years in almost all countries around the world, also in highly developed ones such as Germany, France and the United States.”
Explore regions expected to suffer the most
Researchers highlighted the need to cut emissions drastically and immediately in order to prevent economic losses from becoming even bigger in the second half of the century. Staying on the current path is highly likely to lead us to catastrophic consequences.
The study looked at detailed atmospheric and economic data from more than 1,600 regions globally, covering the last 40 years. It found global income loss could vary between 11% and 29%, depending on different climate scenarios and uncertainties in the data.
The predicted economic damages are mostly due to rising average temperature, but also due to several other factors such as storms and rains of unprecedented intensities. It is no doubt that the climate crisis has been lately triggering devastating events across the globe.
Though most regions on the planet are expected to suffer economically due to the economic damages, regions near the poles might see some benefits due to less temperature variability and those close to the equator are likely to face the brunt of the problem.
Global temperature surges in the limelight
The countries least responsible for climate change and having the least resources to adapt to its impacts are predicted to suffer income losses that is 40% greater than higher-emission countries and 60% greater than the higher-income countries.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has been regularly sharing updates on global temperatures surges due to anthropogenic activities. Earlier this year, it announced that 2023 has been confirmed as the hottest year on record.
Later on, CCCS confirmed the first month of 2024 as the hottest January on record, and went on to say the same for February and March. The average global temperature for the past 12 months is already 1.58 degrees above the pre-industrial average.
