Eric Block On Responsible Branding

“A HUNDRED YEARS from now, looking back, the only question that will appear important about the historical moment in which we now live is the question of whether or not we did anything to arrest climate change.”

THE ECONOMIST December 2011

In the 2nd edition, The Climate Vulnerability Monitor (A Guide to the Cold Calculus of a Hot Planet) reports on the economic and social impact of climate change.  Among the highlights of this scientific report, 1.7% of global GDP losses are attributed to climate change and the carbon economy in 2010.  The report projects that by 2030, global GDP losses will rise to 3.2% by climate change and carbon emissions.  This includes a projection of a loss of 2% of the United States GDP by 2030.

But as important as the economic impact of climate change is the human toll.  The Climate Vulnerability Monitor reports:  “Continuing today’s patterns of carbon-intensive energy use is estimated, together with climate change, to cause 6 million deaths per year by 2030, close to 700,000 of which would be due to climate change. This implies that a combined climate-carbon crisis is estimated to claim 100 million lives between now and the end of the next decade.”

Here is a chart from the report that highlights the vulnerability based on regions in the world  to climate and carbon dependence.

Access an executive summary of the Monitor report here.

About CVF:

The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) is an international cooperation group for coordination, advocacy and knowledge-building among countries that face significant insecurity due to climate change. The Forum has distinguished itself through a determination to catalyze more effective and broad-based action for tackling the global climate challenge, internationally and nationally. Founded in 2009 by the Maldives, it now includes 20 governments and is a major foreign policy initiative of its current chair, Bangladesh. The Climate Vulnerability Monitor’s second edition was commissioned at the November 2011 Ministerial Meeting of the Forum at Dhaka, Bangladesh.