New research has highlighted the unequal impact of the climate crisis, finding that tropical regions will be among the last to experience benefits if global greenhouse gas emissions are cut to net zero. Temperatures in tropical areas have risen more significantly compared to historic levels than in wealthier countries at higher latitudes, such as those in Europe and North America.
A team of Australian climate scientists, led by Dr Andrew King at the University of Melbourne, found that this inequality would not be reversed even if global emissions reached net zero, the implicit goal of the 2015 Paris agreement. Dr King stated that the inequality seen in present-day warming would persist indefinitely if a path close to net zero is followed.
The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, examined three computer modelling experiments of temperature changes under net zero emissions, overlaying the results with countries' gross domestic product. Dr King noted that wealthier countries, which have contributed more to the problem, are not the most exposed, while regions that have not caused the warming experience the most warming.
Separately, the UN's refugee agency released a report, co-authored by University of Melbourne Associate Professor Radha Govil, on how the climate crisis is increasing the risk of people becoming stateless. The report, commissioned with the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, called on nations to support the continuity of statehood for countries facing extreme climate damage, including Pacific islands losing land to rising seas.