ADB Predicts 60% Higher Economic Losses Due to Climate Change

According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), a total of 274 disasters hit the Philippines from 1995 to 2015, making us fourth in the world with the highest number of disasters to ever hit a country in a span of 20 years. We are next to India with 288 making USA on top of the list with 472 followed by China with 441.

This has a great impact on the economy according to the study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Economic losses due to climate change in Southeast Asia could be 60 percent higher than the previous estimate. This will reduce the region’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 11 percent by year 2100. This is 4 percent higher than 7 percent estimate from the 2009 ADB report.

However, the World Health Organization estimated a 2 percent reduction in GDP due to this phenomenon.

“At the same time, this new study also shows that reducing emissions and stabilizing the climate will produce benefits and avoid losses for Southeast Asia, which in the long run sharply outweigh the costs of action,” Shang-Jin Wei, ADB chief economist said.

The study notes that by 2050, if global climate agreement to limit carbon emissions is delayed by just a decade, the costs of climate stabilization will rise by 60 percent.

The new study by ADB delivers the following report:

  1. It looks at the economic impact of climate change across a range of scenarios, including business- as-usual and another which sees countries to take steps to limit their greenhouse gas emissions to keep temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius.
  2. It focuses on the region’s five largest economies: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam which account for 90 percent of the region’s emissions.
  3. It quantifies the net benefits to the region from acting to stabilize the climate, which are estimated at as much as 5 to 11 times more than the net costs.
  4. It assessed direct benefits from less climate change such as improved crop yields as well as the effects of improved air quality and better transportation that come directly from steps to reduce emissions.

Source: Philippine Star

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