\u2022 Warns of 14.5m excess deaths concentrated mainly in vulnerable regions
\u2022 Says health, construction and agriculture sectors could lose over $1.5tr<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISLAMABAD: The World Economic Forum (WEF) warned in a fresh insight report that climate change, if left unaddressed, could result in 14.5 million excess deaths and trillion of dollars in economic loses by 2050, concentrated in the world\u2019s most disadvantaged regions and populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report, \u201cBuilding Economic Resilience to the Health Impacts of Climate Change,\u201d says deaths from extreme weather events in those regions have been about 15 times higher over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also warns that climate-health impacts threaten business resilience and that today, less than 5 per cent of global adaptation funding targets health protection. \u201cThis is a dangerous gap that also presents an opportunity for private-sector action,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WEF defines a Climate and Health Business Framework and applies it to four highly exposed sectors to identify specific climate-health risks and opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In food and agriculture, the report says an estimated 24m additional people will face hunger by 2050 and that agricultural workers are expected to face growing climate-health risks. It estimates a likely, mid-range scenario of $740 billion in worker-availability losses between 2025 and 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBusinesses that invest in resilient and precision agriculture practices and modified working practices will be best positioned to meet growing global needs for consistently available, healthy foods,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the built environment, the forum notes that more than half of the world\u2019s population lives in urban areas and that most buildings and infrastructure are poorly adapted for climate extremes such as heat and air pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Construction workers are particularly vulnerable; the report projects a likely, mid-range scenario that the industry will lose at least $570bn in worker-availability losses between 2025 and 2050. It says climate-resilient design and retrofits have the potential to safeguard communities and economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The health and health-care sector is expected to face at least $200 billion in worker-availability losses in a likely, mid-range scenario from 2025 to 2050 and to bear an additional $1.1 trillion treatment burden due to climate change by 2050, the report says, underscoring the need for a shift toward preventive care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is tremendous opportunity for companies to lead this transformation and build resilience by creating new climate-resilient medicines and robust care pathways, and improving public-health engagement,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate change is also driving up claims in health, life and casualty coverage. The report cites Swiss Re forecasting 0.75pc excess mortality annually by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, it notes, only about 8pc of people in low-income communities are covered by health insurance. Insurers, the report says, can support and accelerate resilience by offering innovative products, improving forecasting capabilities and incentivising risk reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taken together, it says, worker-availability losses across food and agriculture, the built environment and health and health care are projected to exceed $1.5 trillion between 2025 and 2050, underscoring the magnitude of the climate-health challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While institutions in each sector can act, the report stresses that no sector can tackle the challenge alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSuccess depends on enabling coordinated action \u2014 through supportive policies, interoperable climate-health data systems and innovative financing to mobilise capital,\u201d it said. Those foundations, the WEF added, can help ensure long-term, scalable resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report highlights practical measures that can reduce illness and mortality in vulnerable regions: providing workers with medical care, implementing cooling solutions and modifying work practices. It also calls for expanded investment in research and development to advance science and develop solutions for climate-linked health challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy investing in research, businesses can help identify the root causes of climate-health risks and develop new treatments, technologies and preventive strategies,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Warns of 14.5m excess deaths concentrated mainly in vulnerable regions\u2022 Says health, construction and agriculture sectors could lose over $1.5tr ISLAMABAD: The World Economic Forum (WEF) warned in a fresh insight report that climate change, if left unaddressed, could result in 14.5 million excess deaths and trillion of dollars in economic loses by 2050, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4858,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions\/4858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}