The economic cost of natural disasters in the world is not only growing in absolute numbers due to climate change, but has more than doubled since the 1980s due to the weight it represents in the gross domestic product (GDP), according to the OECD, which expects this trend to continue. in the next years.
In the 2020-2021 period, these disasters accounted for around 0.22% of global GDP, when in the 1980s and the two previous decades they had represented at most 0.08%, according to figures presented this Thursday by the chief economist. of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Clare Lombardelli.
These costs rose to between 0.15 and 0.18% of GDP in the decades of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
Lombardelli presented these figures, on the occasion of the publication of its semiannual Outlook report, and specifically to explain that member countries need to create greater fiscal space for a series of expenses that are going to increase in the future, such as those derived from the aging of the population, but also because of the cost of climate change.
The successor of Lombardelli As of June 1, the former Portuguese minister Alvaro Pereiraindicated to EFE that the investment needs for the energy transition are going to have to quadruple with respect to what is currently done, to reach more than four trillion euros annually by 2030.
According to International Energy Agency (AIE), which depends on the OECDUS$4.5 trillion per year will be needed between now and the beginning of the next decade to try to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Pereira specified that the impact of natural disasters will not be linear throughout the world, and that in Spain the impact of climate change will be particularly strong in terms of drought and deficiencies in water availability.
Beyond continuing its assessments of the past cost of natural disasters, the OECD plans to prepare forecasts soon.
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Source: Gestion
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