A new study of 135 countries concluded that climate change could save 4% of world annual economic output by 2050 and would disproportionately hurt much poorer parts of the world.

The S & P Global ratings agency, which awards ratings to countries based on the health of their economies, issued a report Thursday examining the likely knock-on effects of rising sea levels, as well as more frequent heat waves, droughts and storms.

In a baseline scenario, in which governments largely shelve large new climate policies that scholars in low- and low-middle-income countries have called “RCP 4.5” GDP losses will, on average, be 3.6 times greater than they are in richer countries.

Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are vulnerable to wildfires, floods, extreme storms and scarcity of water. At 11-18% of GDP, South Asia is susceptible, about three times as large as North America and 10 times as large as the least affected area, Europe.

Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa are also experiencing substantial losses.

East Asian and Pacific countries are equally vulnerable to heat waves and droughts as sub-Saharan Africa, but mainly due to storms and flooding, not to heat waves and droughts.

Climate change

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Contemporary climate change includes both global warming and its impacts on Earth’s weather patterns. There have been previous periods of climate change, (wikipedia)

World Meteorological Organization

The World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. (wikipedia)