2024-04-29 04:53:26
The climate crisis threatens to deprive many people of their livelihoods. Some regions are particularly badly affected.
Scientists warn: Even with drastic CO2 reductions, there is a risk of a 19 percent decline in income worldwide by 2050. This means that the expected damage from the climate crisis is six times greater than the costs that would be necessary to limit global warming to two degrees, according to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), published in the journal “Nature”. became.
“Sharp reductions in income are forecast for the majority of regions,” said Maximilian Kotz, PIK scientist and lead author of the study, according to a statement from the institute. South Asia and Africa would be particularly badly affected, but also North America and Europe. This is mainly due to the higher temperatures as well as changes in precipitation and temperature fluctuations.
“Our analysis shows that climate change will cause massive economic damage in almost all countries around the world within the next 25 years,” warns Leonie Wenz, PIK scientist and head of the study.
Countries in the global south are particularly affected
The researchers estimate global annual damage to be around $38 trillion by 2050. “If we don’t act quickly and drastically reduce our emissions, we will face even greater economic losses in the second half of the century,” warns Wenz. “If we do nothing, the global losses could be up to 60 percent by 2100.”
The damage caused by the climate crisis is not distributed evenly. According to the study, countries in the global south are particularly affected. “The countries least responsible for climate change are expected to suffer income losses that are 60 percent greater than higher-income countries,” explains Anders Levermann, study author and physicist at PIK.