The Costs of Climate Adaptation, Explained in 4 Infographics
As global temperatures climb, so do the costs of adapting to a warmer world. Severe weather events are becoming more frequent, creating major budget pressures for national governments, especially those in the developing world. Sea level is projected to rise by 52-98 centimeters by the year 2100, threatening billions of people in coastal communities. And increasing temperatures and shifting weather patterns threaten major economic sectors, such as agriculture, tourism and energy supply.
So how much money will the world need to protect itself from these impacts? And how much money are we currently spending to solve the problem? Here’s everything you need to know about the current state of adaptation finance:
1) The costs are increasing
2) Adaptation finance from the public sector is growing
3) There’s still a huge gap between how much adaptation finance we have and how much we need
4) Most climate finance goes to mitigation
Source: World Resources Institute
Date: May 2015
Related Articles
Four lessons Obama should learn from Merkel’s energy revolution
Germany’s “Energiewende” is managing the biggest transformation away from fossil fuels and nuclear power and toward renewables of any advanced
Humans damaging the environment faster than it can recover
Degradation of the world’s natural resources by humans is rapidly outpacing the planet’s ability to absorb the damage, meaning the
Fossil fuel industry is killing the world’s coral reefs
Divers from coastal communities around the world wrapped crime-scene tape around dead coral reefs during a series of underwater dives
