The World Bank wants nations to adopt something akin to a global “social safety net” to address the effects of climate change on the world’s poor, providing universal healthcare and other subsidies as a way to protect millions from becoming impoverished from increasing floods, droughts and disease.
The World Bank made its recommendations Sunday in a report titled, “Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty.”
The study is being issued ahead of a major climate change conference in Paris at the end of the month, where all nations will attempt to hash out a global agreement on emissions reductions.
Critics of President Obama’s plan to endorse the deal say it will raise prices for the U.S. by codifying regulations that will increase energy costs. Critics also say the deal aims to shift the wealth of developed nations, like the U.S., to poorer developing countries through the creation of a “green” climate fund.
The fund obligates developed nations to contribute $100 billion a year beginning in 2020 to help developing nations cope with the effects of manmade climate change. Many scientists say that carbon emissions from the burning of coal and oil are causing global temperatures to rise.
The World Bank’s study finds that without a plan to address the effects of rising carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, global warming would force 100 million more people into poverty by 2030. It outlines a range of subsidies that would have to be funded by individual countries on top of the green fund contributions to help the poor deal with the effects of global warming.
The report also recommends taxing greenhouse gas emitters through a “carbon tax” as one of the best “pro-poor” policies. Revenue from the carbon tax would be used to fund social programs for the poor. The study says individual nations would develop their own social safety networks and assistance programs, but for poor countries “where domestic resources are insufficient to protect poor people, support from the international community is essential.”
If global temperatures rise above 2 degrees over the next few decades, the effect on the planet’s climate will be catastrophic, says the bank, with the world’s poor being affected the most. The Paris deal is meant to hold back the 2-degree mark, but United Nations officials recently say current commitments will fail to meet that goal without deeper cuts in emissions.
“Climate change hits the poorest the hardest, and our challenge now is to protect tens of millions of people from falling into extreme poverty because of a changing climate,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
“This report sends a clear message that ending poverty will not be possible unless we take strong action to reduce the threat of climate change on poor people and dramatically reduce harmful emissions,” he said.
The bank says it is issuing the report ahead of global leaders assembling in Paris Nov. 30-Dec. 11. The World Bank wants the report to demonstrate to nations that the two issues, global warming and poverty, are interconnected and must be addressed together. Any global deal on climate change must address ways of reducing the impact on the poor, the report says.
The report “finds that poor people are already at high risk from climate-related shocks,” which include crop failures from reduced rainfall, increased food prices from extreme weather like droughts, and increased levels of disease such as malaria from heat waves and flooding.
The report shows that the “shocks could wipe out hard-won gains, leading to irreversible losses, driving people back into poverty, particularly in Africa and South Asia.”
The report recommends increased funding for projects that limit the effects of climate change while providing a social safety net. Such measures include more flood protection systems, sustainable farming practices and technology, universal healthcare policies, and other government subsidies as a means of protecting the poorest among the global poor.
“Combining rapid, inclusive and climate informed development with targeted interventions and stronger safety nets would largely reduce the short-term threat from climate change — and, fortunately, developing countries have a window of opportunity to go in that direction before most of the climate change impacts materialize,” it says.
Nevertheless, there are challenges and limits to providing a safety net, the report says.
“Although social safety nets and health insurance help households cope with shocks, they do not reduce the direct and immediate impact on well-being and assets and will become increasingly costly— even unaffordable — if shocks become more frequent and intense.”
In the next 15-20 years, the effects of climate change will outpace the ability to adapt to the changes, the report says. That’s when the report turns to climate change mitigation, endorsing the goal of a zero-emission economy by the beginning of the next century as the best “pro-poor” policy.
