The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) will take place on the 6th. Besides carbon reduction, a key focus in recent years has been on compensation and climate finance funds. How much have climate disasters cost? According to recent research, heatwaves caused by climate change in the two decades between 1992 and 2013 have already caused at least $16 trillion in economic losses globally. Even the poorest countries with the lowest carbon emissions have been affected, highlighting the inequalities inherent in the climate crisis.
The study, published October 28 in the journal Science Advances, was conducted by Dartmouth College geography professor Christopher Mankin and doctoral student Christopher Callahan. They calculated that the impact of extreme heat waves on health, agricultural losses, productivity and other areas between 1992 and 2013 was approximately $16 trillion.
According to the study, in wealthy regions like Europe and North America, extreme heatwaves cost per capita GDP (GDP) 1.5%, compared to 6.7% per capita GDP loss per year in low-income countries like India and Indonesia.
Mankin noted that this raises questions about climate justice and inequality. The economic losses caused by heatwaves are disproportionately borne by poor tropical and Southern Hemisphere countries, many of which have low carbon emissions. The Guardian noted that because these regions are already hot, heatwaves are more devastating; and because their pre-existing economic conditions are more vulnerable to climate disasters, they are even more vulnerable.
In July, Mankin and Callahan published another study in the journal Climatic Change, which for the first time estimated the global contribution to the climate crisis. They concluded that U.S. carbon emissions from 1990 to 2014 caused more than $1.9 trillion in global climate damages. During the same period, the other four major emitters—China, Russia, India, and Brazil—totaled $4.1 trillion in damages, bringing the total to approximately $6 trillion.
The United Nations Climate Conference will be held in Egypt from November 6th to 18th. The BBC published a special report on the responsibility of major carbon emitters and fossil fuel companies for loss and damage, citing another study that indicates that disasters caused by climate change will become even worse. If global temperatures rise by 2.9°C, the average GDP of the world's 65 most climate-vulnerable countries will fall by 20% by 2050.
Sadie DeCoste of the non-profit organization Tipping Point UK believes that governments can establish a financial mechanism to deal with loss and damage under the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with payments made in proportion to their responsibilities.
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/235388)
