Climate Change as a Challenge for the Economy

Georgi Momchilov

doi:10.38188/2534-9228.21.4.07

Abstract

According to historical climatology, climate and climate change have always had an impact on human society. Anthropological climate change is happening fast and will indisputably affect the global economy for decades to come. This paper provides a review of the expectations of leading economists and organisations on the magnitude of this effect. It clarifies the different approaches used to quantify the future economic loss attributed to climate change. Despite the different approaches used, all the authors examined in the paper foresee a negative impact of the climate change on the global economy. The different approaches result in different predictions about the magnitude of the impact. The authors express similar positions about the geography of the damages that will be caused by the climate change. The most affected countries will be most likely those in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. A moral paradox arises that the least developed countries that are not at fault for anthropogenic climate change will have to carry the economic burden of its consequences. The paper also suggests and compares a variety of measures that could be taken in order to adopt to and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on the economies.

Highlights

Climate change has become an increasingly important issue in business and politics
The thesis of the paper is that the climate change will have a significant negative impact on the global economy and this was proved through a variety of research methods
It suggests that the cost of implementing mitigation and adaptation measures would be lower than the cost of the damages that climate change would cause

Summary

Introduction

Climate change has become an increasingly important issue in business and politics. This article has the goal to review and analyse the propositions of leading economists on the issue of climate change impacts on the economy and some of the measures that may be applied. The industrial development of humanity since the start of the XIX century until now and the emission of large volumes of greenhouse gases related thereto has resulted in the gradual increase of the average temperature and accompanying changes in global climate.

Results

Conclusion