Every Monday, the "Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft" in cooperation with "Die Presse" presents current topics from an economist's perspective. Today: Birgit Bednar-Friedl and Nina Knittel on the challenges that climate change will bring for Austria.

The impacts of climate change affect many countries around the world in different ways and to varying degrees. Droughts, storms and hail events lead to crop failures, floods destroy production facilities and transport infrastructure, heat reduces human performance — especially during physically demanding activities — and rising sea levels threaten coastal habitats. All of these impacts reduce economic output, not only in sectors directly influenced by weather and climate, such as agriculture, but also in the production of a wide range of goods and the provision of services such as tourism.

However, the consequences of climate change are unevenly distributed across the globe: more severe impacts are expected particularly near the equator and in the Global South, while less severe impacts are anticipated in the Global North. According to the latest reports from the IPCC, vast parts of Africa and Central America face the threat of landscapes turning to steppe or desert, with drastic consequences for agriculture and thus the livelihoods of millions of people.

Read more at: diepresse.com