Climate change does have an economic cost and a huge one at that, according to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) that provides country, industry, and management analysis worldwide.
The EIU Climate Change Resilience Index estimates climate change might reduce world growth over the next 30 years by at least 3%. In dollar terms, climate change will directly cost the world economy $7.9 trillion by mid-century as widespread drought, flooding and crop failures limit growth and threaten infrastructure.
The report said rising temperatures means the global economy is projected to hit $250 trillion by 2050 compared to $258 trillion with no climate impact. It said the hardest hit regions by the economic impact of climate change will be Africa, South America and the Middle East. These regions have higher average temperatures and smaller economies, increasing their vulnerability to climate change consequences. As a general rule, developing nations will fare poorer in terms of resiliency than richer ones.
"Being rich matters," said John Ferguson, EIU country analysis director. "Richer nations are really able to be more resilient towards the impacts of climate change, so this really threatens growth trajectories of the developing world as they try to catch up with the developed world. When we are already dealing with global inequality, for the impacts of climate change the developing world's challenges are much greater."
The United States' economy, which is forecast to be one of the least impacted, will still reel under the hammer blows of climate change. EIU said the U.S. might see its growth rate drop by more than 1% over the next three decades as a result of climate change.
"The EIU's climate change model calculates that by 2050, the U.S. economy will be 1.1% smaller than it would have been in the absence of climate change," said the EIU report.
President Donald Trump's climate denial policies are only a "temporary setback" in the climate fight," contends EIU.
