Weather & Science
Global Warming’s Economic Risks to Rise Most Quickly for the Rich
A new study shows low-income consumers are still most vulnerable to climate change, but risks for wealthy are growing the fastest.
Tourists watch as smoke from wildfires fills the sky above the Acropolis citadel in Athens.
Photographer: Ioana Epure/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Erratic weather events linked to global warming are set to raise economic risks for high-income consumers the most in the coming years, according to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
While it’s well-established that the world’s poorest bear the brunt of the impact from climate change — a prospect which researchers at the German institute confirmed — they also found that threats to consumption by the wealthy will amplify the most over the next two decades in places like the US or European Union.