WASHINGTON - Climate change poses a major threat to long-term development objectives, especially poverty reduction, and accelerated emission reductions are needed, particularly in high-income and other high-emitting countries, writes a World Bank (WB) report.
Reducing emissions can be done without comprising development: taken together, CCDR low-carbon development strategies reduce emissions by 70%, without significant impact on growth, provided that policies are well designed and financing is available. Financing needs average 1.4 percent of GDP, a manageable amount with appropriate private sector involvement.
But in lower-income countries, financing needs can exceed 5 percent, which will require more support from high-income countries, including increased concessional resources.
Executive Summary
Climate change—caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities—poses a major threat to countries’ ability to protect past development gains and achieve future improvements in living standards for all. Tackling climate change and development challenges together is therefore at the heart of the World Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan 2021–251and the World Bank’s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach.2To support the alignment of development and climate objectives at the country level, the World Bank Group has launched a new core diagnostic tool: the Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR).
These country reports combine the best available data, models, and tools to provide immediate and actionable recommendations for decision makers today. Integrating climate change and development considerations, the CCDRs aim to help governments, the private sector, citizens, and development partners prioritize the most impactful actions that can boost resilience and adaptation and contribute to global public goods by reducing GHG emissions, while delivering on broader development objectives. The first set of 20 CCDRs covers 24 countries This synthesis paper summarizes the main emerging findings from the first set of CCDRs.
It identifies commonalities as well as differences and specificities across country contexts, income groups, and geographies. It also aims to combine these insights to inform how international development partners and especially high-income countries (HICs) should support the global transition toward a more resilient low-carbon development path, including through their own climate action and through support to climate action in low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs).
The first set of CCDRs shows that resilient, low-carbon development is possible, but only if all countries embrace major change. For LICs and MICs, this means changes to policies, regulations, and investments; for HICs, it means accelerating their own climate action and providing increased support to LICs and MICs.
The first set of CCDRs demonstrates the significant impact of climate change, even when estimated only for a subset of impact categories and without including the larger impacts expected post-2050. The CCDRs explore some of the most critical transmission channels of climate change impacts, such as labor productivity, agricultural yields, and water availability. Sectoral impact assessments demonstrate high vulnerability to climate change with significant implications for food security and human health.
CCDRs also look at the bi-directional relationship between climate change and risks related to fragility, conflict, and violence. Different analyses were performed for different countries, depending on their needs and vulnerabilities, but not all challenges could be explored in every country.4 Even these partial analyses, however, show significant macroeconomic effects, particularly for poorer countries and especially under the assumption of higher levels of global warming.
The CCDR analyses show a large and disproportionate impact of climate change on poverty and economic opportunities, especially for the most vulnerable members of society. Higher vulnerability of people in or close to poverty is linked to higher exposure to risk (for example, working outdoors or living in low-quality housing). But it is also linked to a lower ability to prepare and respond (for example, lacking access to borrowing or having no or low savings) and lower access to support systems, such as remittances, social protection, health care, or a voice in decision making.
For the full report, visit: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/38220/CCDR-SynthesisReport.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
