Climate change will cost global economy USD 38 trillion every year by 2050, finds study
New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The global economy is expected to lose about 19 per cent income in the next 25 years due to climate change, with countries least responsible for the problem and having minimum resources to adapt to impacts suffering the most, according to a new study.
The study by scientists at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) published on Wednesday said South Asia and Africa will be strongly affected with a median income loss of around 22 per cent in 2050.
Maximilian Kotz, a PIK scientist, said, “Our study finds that the global economy is committed to an average income loss of 19 per cent by 2049 due to past emissions. This corresponds to a 17 per cent reduction in global GDP.”
The 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, said scientist Leonie Wenz, who led the study published in the journal Nature.
The predicted loss is massive and already about six times more than what it would cost to reduce carbon emissions enough to keep the average temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, the researchers said.
These economic damages are mostly due to rising average temperatures. However, when the researchers also considered other factors like rains and storms, the predicted economic damages increased by about 50 per cent and varied more from one region to another.
The researchers looked at detailed weather and economic data from over 1,600 regions globally, covering the last 40 years.
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