Climate change has an impact not only the food we eat and the air we breathe, but also on the money in our pocket.
A research paper published by Nature found that climate change (global warming specifically) would reshape the global economy by cutting down global incomes by 23% by the year of 2100. This is the first evidence from academia proving that economic activity in all regions is coupled with global climate.
Nature’s methodology for the study was to analyze data from 1960 to 2010 and track the relationship between temperature and economic productivity. Authors of the study took the constant difference between countries, country-specific growth-rate trends, and global price changes into account.
Key findings are listed as follows:
screenshot via Nature
- There is an overall non-linear pattern in the relationship between temperature and economic development.
- Productivity rises steadily and slowly until reaching the ideal average annual temperature, at 55 °F or 15 °C.
- A sharp decline in productivity occurs when the peak ideal temperature is passed.
- Continued global warming will cause average global incomes to fall by 23% by 2100, and will therefore expand income inequality across the globe.
Please see the article review of the study on Nature.
