[Apr 15-21'24] Have you talked with your kids about climate change?

20% global drop in GDP, optimal locations for wind power, new political technologies, take fossil fuels to court for homicide.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Climate 🎉

References: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].

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‼️News you can’t miss

Here’s one important scary/bad (🙀), good (😻), interesting (😼) and fossil (💩) news item.

🙀 Global GDP to drop by 20% by 2050 due to climate change

😻 New study identifies optimal locations for wind power

😼 We need new political technologies

💩 Could fossil fuel companies be taken to court for homicide?

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👩‍⚕️ Status: Climate & Science

Let’s look at how we’re doing this week!

[#GDP] — A study predicts that the climate crisis will cause average world incomes to diminish by nearly a fifth by 2050. The costs of damage are projected to be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and heavier rainfall are expected to cause $38tn of destruction annually by mid-century. The study emphasizes the disproportionate impact on countries least responsible for climate disruption, exacerbating inequality.

]#hiddencosts] — The hidden costs of climate change, including the cumulative effects of heat, wildfires, and other natural disasters, are often more damaging and unequal than commonly realized. These hidden costs affect human health, productivity, cognitive performance, and learning. Local interventions and adaptations are crucial to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Mitigating climate change and reducing emissions are not only important for ecological reasons but also because the economic costs of even noncatastrophic warming can be significant. A proactive approach to adaptation and resilience is necessary to safeguard physical and financial security and promote economic opportunity.

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📰 The 7 Grand Challenges

⚡️Decarbonize Electricity

Clean electricity is the one do-or-die challenge we must solve.

[#wind] — A study has identified the most reliable locations for wind power generation, highlighting areas prone to "wind droughts" and those that are consistently windy. North-west Europe has high wind power capacity but is susceptible to wind droughts, while the American midwest, Australia, the Sahara, Argentina, central Asia, and South Africa are more steady and reliable. Building resilience, diversifying power supply, and creating grid interconnections and energy storage can mitigate the impact of wind droughts.