Climate change can take big toll on Asian economies, says ADB report

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Countries in Asia-Pacific will need to spend big to adapt to climate change. But the cost of inaction could be higher, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank.

Left unchecked, climate change could punch a 17%-sized hole in the region’s economic growth over the next decades, the Manila-based bank said Thursday. “The window to stay within the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement is rapidly closing," the ADB said. The international treaty aims to limit the average rise in global temperatures to that threshold, beyond which experts expect climate change to have increasingly disastrous consequences.

In the nine years since the agreement was adopted, inaction has put that goal nearly out of reach, the multilateral bank said. With greenhouse-gas emissions reaching record highs, nations need to dramatically increase—and immediately start delivering—efforts to get on track for 1.5°C, a United Nations Environment Programme report said last week. Failure to do so will lead to debilitating impacts to economies, the report said.

Asia-Pacific’s position in the climate crisis is a tricky one: it’s both home to some of the most vulnerable economies and a major polluter, contributing over 50% of global GHG emissions. If emissions breach critical levels, ADB estimates climate change could reduce Asia-Pacific’s gross domestic product by 17% in 2070. Rising sea levels threaten coastal assets and populations, while heat waves would sap labor supply and productivity, and climate-dependent sectors like agriculture, forestry, and fisheries face shocks that will stifle output.