Climate Change is Already Killing 400,000 People Annually

Climate change is killing 400,000 people per year including 1,000 children a day and costing the global economy $1.2 trillion a year (which amounts to 1.6 percent of economic output). These are the findings of a September 2012 study called "Climate Vulnerability Monitor" (PDF).

This study was conducted by 50 scientists and policy experts. It was commissioned by 20 nations that are most at risk from climate change. According to this study if we continue with business as usual this situation is expected to get far worse. The study concludes that these deaths are “due to hunger and communicable diseases that affect above all children in developing countries.” The study further states that as global warming intensifies in the coming years, the death toll could rise to 700,000 a year by 2030. The economic costs, if the effects of air pollution are included, could increase to 3.2 percent of global output.

The Daily Beast covered a Reuters report on the new study, which stated that more than 100 million will die by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change. Many of these deaths are from malnutrition, malaria, and diarrhea caused by contaminated water, a common result of floods. Other deadly climate change related killers include heat waves, agricultural losses and disease.

Although the world's poor are most likely to bear the brunt of climate change, the developed world is far from immune. According to a 2008 study sponsored by the European Union, the record-breaking heat wave that blanketed Europe for six weeks in summer 2003 caused at least 71,449 deaths. The report indicates that in the US climate impacts could cut the US GNP by 2 percent by 2030.

A 2009 report issued by the Global Humanitarian Forum claimed that global warming was already causing 300,000 deaths and $125 billion in economic losses annually. If we use these figures the death toll associated with climate change has increased by 33 percent since 2009 and the cost has risen almost ten fold.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Cost of Sea Level Rises: Two Trillion Per Year

Rising sea levels are not only imperiling people, the cost to property and infrastructure amounts to trillions of dollars a year. However, if governments act now they can significantly reduce the costs associated with sea level rises. Failure to act soon will cause the costs to increase exponentially.

According to a study from the Stockholm Environment Institute called “Valuing the Oceans”, if the rise of greenhouse gases continues to go unchecked, it will result in lasting damage that will cost $2 trillion each year.

A warmer planet will also continue to cause ocean acidification and diminished levels of oxygen in the seas. These events will destroy coral reefs and decimate fish stocks which will impact people and economies around the world.

As reviewed in a PhysOrg article, in addition to material costs there is also a dramatic human cost, as low-lying areas particularly those around the the coastlines of Africa and Asia are at risk of inundation. The report states that if temperatures continue to rise with a projected increase of four degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, the cost in 2050 will be $428 billion annually, or 0.25 percent of global domestic product (GDP). By 2100, the cost would rise to $1,979 billion, or 0.37 percent of output.

If global governments choose to act now and warming is limited to 2.2 C (4 F), the cost in 2050 would be $105 billion, or 0.06 percent of worldwide GDP, rising to $612 billion, or 0.11 percent, by 2100.

“This is not a scaremongering forecast,” says the report. ”The ocean has always been thought of as the epitome of unconquerable, inexhaustible vastness and variety, but this ‘plenty more fish in the sea’ image may be its worst enemy.”

The actual impact of rising sea levels may prove to be even worse than suggested in this study. The report did not consider the costs to small island states which are subject to the most acute risks, nor did it factor the extraordinary disruption of the world's food chain.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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