HITTING the agreed limit for global warming set in Paris is undoubtedly a tough ask, and it seems likely that the world will be 3 to 4°C warmer by the end of the century (see “Living with climate change: Can we limit global warming to 2°C?”). That means loss and disruption. But starting to prepare now could mean that many people, perhaps even most, can thrive despite the rising temperature. That means more than building a few flood defences, however.
Take the challenge of feeding a growing population in a world where fertile land has been lost to sea level rise, extreme weather events are more common and vast tracts of land may be needed to grow biomass to burn as fuel.
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Read more: How we’re living with climate change and can beat it
91av looks at the reality of climate change: what we’re doing about it, what more we must do and what the future holds in a warmer world
Perhaps the highest priority here is to develop better crops that could feed more people using less land and fewer resources. Biologists are already developing crop plants that can capture more of the sun’s energy, make their own nitrogen fertiliser and resist droughts, floods, salt, pests and diseases. But much more effort and money is needed.
It’s a similar story with protecting our homes, businesses, roads and railways from extreme weather. In many cases we know what needs to be done, such as planting more trees on high ground or building bigger storm drains to deal with increased rainfall. We just need to work out how to pay for it.
Sea level rise is the most certain and potentially costly effect of climate change. It could be as much as 20 metres or more. In 2016, the US allocated $48 million to move just 60 people from the shrinking Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana. If the sea rises 1.8 metres, , and hundreds of millions worldwide. There’s a lot to be done to mitigate the risks, for instance banning building on land in areas such as Florida that could be lost to the sea in less than a century.
The most immediate danger posed by climate change, however, is financial. An estimated by sea level rise of 2 metres, for instance. Those properties could become worthless long before they flood if no one wants to buy them – a .
That’s nothing compared with the carbon bubble. An immense amount of wealth depends on the value of fossil fuel companies. It could be partly your wealth – most pension funds invest in fossil fuel stocks. “We are only just beginning to unravel how exposed everyone is to fossil fuel companies,” says Anthony Hobley of the .
Many investors believe that these companies are valuable because the firms can sell the coal, oil and gas in the reserves they own for a profit. But if we don’t want to fry the planet, those reserves must stay in the ground, making them worthless. “Once climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late,” warned the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, in .
Carney has since helped to set up their climate-related risks. The aim is to encourage companies with big risks to reduce them by, for instance, disinvesting from fossil fuels. It seems to be working: according to a 2016 report, some 60,000 individuals and 700 institutions, from companies to universities to pension funds, already plan to disinvest.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Living with climate change: How to cope in a warmer world”
