
Climate crisis: average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth by 2050 | The cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/17/climate-crisis-average-world-incomes-to-drop-by-nearly-a-fifth-by-2050
by Hrmbee
2 comments
>Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather are projected to cause $38tn (£30tn) of destruction each year by mid-century, shows the research published in the journal Nature, which is the most comprehensive analysis of its type ever undertaken.
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>The hefty toll – which is far higher than previous estimates – is already locked into the world economy over the coming decades as a result of the enormous emissions that have been pumped into the Earth’s atmosphere through the burning of gas, oil, coal and trees.
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>This will inflict crippling losses on almost every country in the world, but with a disproportionately severe impact on the countries least responsible for climate disruption, further worsening inequality.
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>The paper says the permanent average loss of income worldwide will be 19% by 2049. In the United States and Europe the reduction is about 11%, while in Africa and South Asia it is 22%, with individual countries much higher than this.
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>“It’s devastating,” said Leonie Wenz, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the authors of the study. “I am used to my work not having a nice societal outcome, but I was surprised by how big the damages were. The inequality dimension was really shocking.”
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>The study also looked at the second half of this century, where human actions now can still make a big difference. If business-as-usual continues, the authors projected average income losses of more than 60% by 2100. But if emissions fall to net zero by mid century, then income declines will stabilise mid century at about 20%.
Even though we’re already on a pretty bad course, it’s also clear that the more we do now to limit and/or reverse some of the damage the better. There’s a lot of work to be done, and there’s no time for doomerism.
Probably would only impact the wellbeing of the regular people. The multi millionaires and billionaires gonna get richer, like they did during the pandemic.