Climate change to cost 2.8% GDP: WB

Rising temperatures and changing monsoon rainfall patterns from climate change could cost India 2.8 per cent of GDP and depress the living standards of nearly half the country’s population by 2050, said a World Bank report on Thursday.

The report said that India’s average annual temperatures are expected to rise by 1° C to 2° C by 2050 even if preventive measures are taken along the lines of those recommended by the Paris climate change agreement of 2015. If no measures are taken average temperatures in India are predicted to increase by 1.5° C to 3° C.

According to the report, almost half of South Asia’s population, including India, now lives in the vulnerable areas and will suffer from declining living standards that could be attributed to falling agricultural yields, lower labor productivity or related health impacts. Some of these areas are already less developed, suffer from poor connectivity and are water stressed, it said.

In India today, approximately 600 million people live in locations that could either become moderate or severe hotspots by 2050 under a businessasusual scenario, the report said. States in the central, northern and north- western parts of India emerge as most vulnerable to changes in average temperature and precipitation.

According to the report’s analysis, by 2050 Chhattisgarh and MP are predicted to be the top two climate hotspot states and are likely to experience a decline of more than 9 per cent in their living standards, followed by Rajasthan, UP, and Maharashtra.