Climate Change Impacts Create Crises for Society and Human Health, Report Says

TEMPO.CO, Accra, Ghana - The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and the Vulnerable Twenty (V20), a group of ministers of finance of the CVF, have commissioned a report about climate change impacts that it is claimed to proven that climate change impacts really generate loss and damage, and that it globally created crises for society, human health and development.

The CVF said that this report, which is entitled "Climate Vulnerability Monitor, 3rd edition: A Planet on Fire," is the third edition of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor (CVM3). It was released on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

The CVF explained that the report is the product of a multi-year research program involving a multi-organization science consortium led by the Global Center on Adaptation, Climate Analytics, the Lancet Countdown and finres, as well as 14 regional partner organizations.

It also consolidates the latest research from the scientific literature on the attribution of climate change in 32 distinct indicators of socio-economic and environmental change and impact phenomena.

The CVF stated that the report projects and compares how, for a wide range of countries, these impacts evolve throughout the 21st century under a climate and socio-economic scenario that limits warming to 1.5°C, versus a below 2°C scenario, and a high emissions scenario without climate action to reduce emissions or mobilize additional adaptation efforts.

They also said that the CVM3 findings illustrate the significant extent to which limiting warming to 1.5ºC could contain otherwise enormous losses and damage for the world this century.

Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana Minister for Finance and Economic Planning and V20 chairman, stated that climate-fueled risks have driven up the cost of capital and debt to unsustainable levels, especially across climate vulnerable economies, worsening already horrific financial protection gaps.

"Safeguarding the 1.5 degrees centigrade safety limit of the Paris Agreement is critical as with the doubling of adaptation finance and the availability of pre-arranged finance through the G7-V20 Global Shield, to disburse quickly and reliably before or right after disasters take place, significantly expanding instruments of adaptation and financial protection for governments, communities, businesses, and households," he said.

"Such measures can lower the impact of climate change, make vulnerable country economies more resilient, safeguard sustainable development, and protect the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people,” Ken Ofori-Atta further explained.

The CVM3 report included key findings as follows:

-Annual global heat deaths among vulnerable groups could reach 3.35 million by end of century if insufficient climate action is taken: 91% of the increase in heat deaths could be avoided if global warming is limited to 1.5ºC.

-As much as over 10% of economic growth lost every single year in the long-term for key world regions: Africa, Asia, Europe.

-Fast-growing cumulative economic losses are already lowering incomes worldwide and raising inflation and interest rates across all regions in a negative impact that would more than double if warming exceeded 1.5ºC and reached 2ºC.

-20-year extreme drought events will increase 4-8 fold during the decade ahead (at 1.5°C) and 8-12 times under a below 2.0°C scenario.

-Extreme wildfire risk to increase by 8.5% in the coming decade (at 1.5ºC) and to triple by end-of-century under a no climate action scenario.

-Decreases in staple crop yields could reach 30-40% by end of century, but could be reduced to 5-10% if global warming is limited to 1.5ºC.

The CVM3’s full online data set with global coverage at national level portal will be released via a dedicated portal on November 10, 2022 at UNFCCC COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

TEMPO.CO

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