Impact of Climate Change - Abhimanyu Maheshwari

Description:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as change in the state of the climate that can be identified by change in the mean temperature of variability of climate properties and that persists for an extended period. The catastrophic effects that would occur if the temperatures rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius are now well documented. The projected economic damage due to climate change is estimated to reach $1.7 trillion per year by 2025 and about $30 trillion per year by 2075 if we don't act upon cutting down emissions. Definitely the most severe impact of this would be on the developing nations, given the fact that most of them primarily are agrarian based economies and extreme heat would result in widespread destruction of wealth. This would further add to the already prevalent inequalities between countries. Experts also predict spillover effects such as disruption of supply chains and refugee crisis caused due to climate impacts.

Enablers:

• Fossil Fuel Consumption
• Global Emission levels remaining high
• Government policies

Inhibitors:

• Clean and Green Energy
• Electric Transportation
• Climate Change Agreements and Pledges
• Shift towards Net Zero

Paradigms:

Climate change if left unchecked would lead to frequent droughts and floods, intense storms, frequent wildfires, consequences which we are already starting to see. Though majority of carbon emissions come from developed countries, the consequences would be more catastrophic for the developing nations, further dividing the world even more.

Experts:

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/glossary/
• United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) - https://www.unhcr.org/uk/climate-change-and-disasters.html
• Ackerman, Stanton (2015) - https://anthempress.com/climate-change-and-global-equity-pb

Timing:

• 2005- Kyoto Protocol
• 2007- 4th IPCC report claiming effects of Global warming are already happening
• 2015- Signing of the Paris Climate Agreement by around 196 countries pledging to limit rise of temperature below 1.5 degree Celsius.

Web Resources:

• https://www.preventionweb.net/news/climate-change-will-deepen-rich-poor-global-divide-top-economists-warn
• https://news.trust.org/item/20210226115749-u102q

Contributor:

Abhimanyu