IPCC – Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The latest IPCC report, released on 28 February, outlines the risks posed by a changing climate for people, economies and ecosystems around the world. The report cites research by Whitaker Institute member Dr Tom McDermott on the economics of climate change and development.
A changing climate is creating new risks and challenges the world over – the IPCC report estimates that 3.6 billion people, or almost half of humanity, live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, unsustainable development patterns – for example expansion of urban areas into coastal flood risk zones – are also increasing exposure to climate hazards.
People living in low income countries face particular challenges in coping with a changing climate, due to precarious livelihoods and a lack of social and economic infrastructure. The good news is that economic and social development can help people to overcome many of these challenges, particularly when investments are made with climate risks in mind – this is the idea of climate resilient development. And there are many ways that rich countries can help, including through meeting our commitments to help fund adaptation for developing countries.
But adaptation also has limits, and without stronger action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions urgently, the global climate, and the natural and human systems that depend on it, will soon be pushed beyond those limits. The biggest thing we can all do to help is to reduce our emissions and to lobby our public representatives for stronger action to curb climate change now.
The report is available to download here and cites the following work by Dr McDermott which is available to read by clicking the hyperlinks below:
- Adaptation to climate change (World Development) paper
- Understanding the adaptation deficit: Why are poor countries more vulnerable to climate events than rich countries?
- The Economics of Climate-Resilient Development
- How normative interpretations of climate risk assessment affect local decision-making: an exploratory study at the city scale in Cork, Ireland
Dr McDermott also has related research, which was not cited in the report, available to read below.
Dr Tom McDermott is the Galway University Foundation Lecturer in the Economics of Climate Change and Development, a founding member of CERIS and Director of the MSc Global Environmental Economics at NUI Galway. His latest research is available here.