By DERCO ROSAL
Climate change could reduce gross domestic product (GDP) in Asian developing countries, including the Philippines, by 17 percent for the next nearly 50 years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported.
Based on ADB’s Asia-Pacific Climate Report, this economic loss—driven by a high-end greenhouse gas emissions scenario—is expected to rise further to 41 percent by 2100.
Factors include rising sea levels, “and that means that the future economy is extremely vulnerable. Our vulnerabilities just keep rising over time,” David Raitzer, ABD senior economist on economic research and development impact, said.
In particular, “rising sea levels and falling labor productivity would cause the greatest losses, with lower income and fragile economies hit hardest,” ADB said in an Oct. 31 statement.
“The initial numbers may look a little bit small,” showing a three-percent GDP loss from climate change over the next decade, which is lower than the total loss since pre-industrial times, but impacts are expected to worsen over time, Raitzer said.
If the climate crisis worsens, ADB said coastal flooding could endanger up to 300 million people in the region and result in trillions of dollars in damage to coastal assets each year by 2070.
“Climate change has supercharged the devastation from tropical storms, heat waves, and floods in the region, contributing to unprecedented economic challenges and human suffering,” ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said.
Some of them are increasing over time, like sea level rise, and that means that the future economy is extremely vulnerable. Our vulnerabilities just keep rising over time.
“Urgent, well-coordinated climate action that addresses these impacts is needed before it is too late,” Asakawa added.
In a recent survey by the ADB, nine out 10 Filipinos (91 percent) said they think global warming is serious and want their governments to take stronger actions to address it.
ADB said that there is a need to speed up efforts to adapt to increasing climate risks and to significantly increase funding for climate adaptation initiatives.
Regional countries need to invest between $102 billion and $431 billion each year to adapt to global warming, which is significantly higher than the $34 billion in adaptation funding recorded in the region during the pandemic, the report noted.