Climate Change: Economic Risk
The Economics of Climate Adaptation Working Group, a member of the Swiss Re Center for Global Dialogue, released their report, Shaping Climate Resilient Development, today. The Report concludes that the global cost of climate change will be around 19% of the world’s GDP by 2030. Some key risks associated with climate change that the report discusses are increased droughts which will lead to a $7billion dollar loss in Indian agriculture and increased hurricanes equaling $33 billion/ year for mitigation and repair in Florida.
The report then calls for global decision makers to take action and begin investing in climate change mitigation. Such investments would work towards significant increases in renewable energy, energy efficiency and SMART grids. The main call for action is for decision makers to integrate climate change adaptation with economic development. So, the key question becomes “How can we reach our development targets while accounting for current and future risks?” instead of “How can we minimize the damage from climate hazards?”
The Economics of Climate Change Working Group does not state that their report is a concrete solution to such a complex issue, but hopefully it will help the world’s economic decision makers (and us) begin to think of development as it relates to climate change risk.
