<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/17/economic-damage-climate-change-report>
"The economic damage wrought by climate change is six times worse than
previously thought, with global heating set to shrink wealth at a rate
consistent with the level of financial losses of a continuing permanent war,
research has found.
A 1C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world gross
domestic product (GDP), the researchers found, a far higher estimate than that
of previous analyses. The world has already warmed by more than 1C (1.8F) since
pre-industrial times and many climate scientists predict a 3C (5.4F) rise will
occur by the end of this century due to the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, a
scenario that the new working paper, yet to be peer-reviewed, states will come
with an enormous economic cost.
A 3C temperature increase will cause “precipitous declines in output, capital
and consumption that exceed 50% by 2100” the paper states. This economic loss
is so severe that it is “comparable to the economic damage caused by fighting a
war domestically and permanently”, it adds.
“There will still be some economic growth happening but by the end of the
century people may well be 50% poorer than they would’ve been if it wasn’t for
climate change,” said Adrien Bilal, an economist at Harvard who wrote the paper
with Diego Känzig, an economist at Northwestern University.
“I think everyone could imagine what they would do with an income that is twice
as large as it is now. It would change people’s lives.”
Bilal said that purchasing power, which is how much people are able to buy with
their money, would already be 37% higher than it is now without global heating
seen over the past 50 years. This lost wealth will spiral if the climate crisis
deepens, comparable to the sort of economic drain often seen during wartime."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
