Study: Climate change hits weakened economies particularly hard

2023-08-30 17:29:00

Study Climate impacts appear to hit already weakened economies particularly hard

This summer the consequences of climate change were noticeable. Extreme heat, storms and flooding occurred worldwide.

© Thomas Warnack / DPA

A study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research has shown that the consequences of climate change hit weakened economies particularly hard. Extreme weather events had a particular impact where the economy had already declined due to the pandemic.

The consequences of the Climate change and increasing weather extremes are hitting already struggling economies particularly hard. This is the result of a study published on Wednesday by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The climate consequences therefore have a particular impact where the corona pandemic had already led to massive economic losses.

A global economic crisis, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic, increases the price pressure that private households experience due to the effects of weather extremes such as heat waves, floods or tropical cyclones, the study says. During the Corona period, price pressure tripled in China, doubled in the USA and increased by a third in the EU.

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Weather extremes “put additional pressure on already stressed societies,” explained the study’s lead author, Robin Middelanis. “In the event of a single climate catastrophe, local production losses can be flexibly compensated to a certain extent by unaffected production locations in the economic network.” Such compensation mechanisms would become more difficult “if the global economy as a whole is under pressure,” Middelanis pointed out.

Researchers simulated the consequences of climate change

For their study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the research team analyzed two scenarios: a “stressed” economy and a “unstressed” economy at full capacity. In both scenarios, the researchers simulated the indirect effects of local economic shocks caused by climate extremes such as heat stress, floods and tropical cyclones.

“It is as easy as it is dangerous to underestimate the economic impact of intensifying weather extremes,” warned Anders Levermann, head of the complexity research department at PIK. “As these intensify under climate change, they will coincide more frequently with other economic crises and that is dangerous,” he made clear.

According to the study, in order to adapt to the consequences of climate change, it is also important to increase the resilience of transport and trade routes. This makes it easier to cope with shocks that have hit other areas.

nim AFP