Climate Change Impacts

Towards a nature-positive economy

“We need now to integrate private sector actors, take advantage of innovative technologies and AI, and train future generations.” Healthy and well-managed ecosystems provide a range of services that support climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The achievements and upcoming priorities when it comes to nature-based solutions in the words of Nathalie Doswald.

Africa’s climate change adaptation pathway

Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and variability, a situation which is further aggravated by its low adaptive capacity and the interaction of factors such as poverty, energy demand and rapid urbanisation.

buildings under a blue sky

Building on sustainable foundations: Climate change and energy efficiency to decarbonize the construction sector

The link between buildings and climate change has long been a focal point of global discussions on mitigation and adaptation. A new report by UNEP and Yale addresses the urgent need to decarbonize the construction sector, responsible for more than one third of global CO2 emissions. With global emissions on the rise, this report provides a blueprint for reducing “embodied carbon” emissions from building materials by 2050. Expert Paolo Bertoldi highlights that creating a sustainable building industry is possible and needs collaboration across sectors and countries.

Wildfires from attribution to solutions: tools and resources

Fire has always been an integral part of human civilization and a key ecosystem process. Fires influence vegetation growth, environmental conditions, and even our climate. However, a changing climate and human interactions through land change use and forest management are having an impact on the intensity and frequency of wildfires. So, what can we do about it?

air-quality

Elly Vaughan: The climate-health nexus between pollen and heatwaves

The interplay between climate change, air quality and lung health is a key issue that requires innovative approaches and solutions. “It’s not just what the empirical evidence is telling us about different particle concentration levels in the air but how people are perceiving air quality,” says health policy expert at Economist Impact Elly Vaughan.

Flooding

Climate and health: understanding the entanglement

Infographics, resources, and analyses to understand the way climate change and health are closely connected. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events and substantial environmental transformations, primarily driven by climate change, pose significant threats to both physical and mental well-being. These changes have far-reaching implications for safety, affecting people’s access to critical resources such as clean air, safe water, food, and healthcare.