By Seekriti Saha
Climate induced health risk can cost the world economy a minimum of Rs.131 lakh crore (USD 1.5 trillion) in productivity for the next 25 years owing to increasing health issues and labour shortages across the four sectors-agriculture and food, environment, health and healthcare and insurance.
The World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based international organisation for public-private partnership,in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group made a report which evaluated climate-caused health impacts on the four economic sectors.
The report said that the USD 1.5 trillion estimate reflects losses in only those first three sectors.The burden could be far greater.
The report encourages companies to act from now onwards in protecting health in the workforce,building operational resilience and safeguarding productivity before they reach unmanageable conditions.
“We are entering an era in which protecting worker health is proving essential to business continuity and long-term resilience,” said Eric White, Head of Climate Resilience, World Economic Forum.
“Every year we delay embedding resilience into business decisions, the risks to human health and productivity climb and the costs of adaptation rise,” White added.
The analysis also shared sector-specific vulnerabilities.Climate health impacts could lead to USD 740 billion in lost output in food and agriculture,leading to serious results in food security,according to the World Economic Forum.
“Momentum on health adaptation is building, but financing and implementation are still far below what’s needed,” said Elia Tziambazis, Managing Director and Partner, BCG.
The report had sourced health data from scientific literature and economic cost and employment data from ILO (International Labour Organization and World Bank.The report encouraged a global shift to health resilience by supportive policies, harmonized sharing of climate-health data among different systems and organizations,and innovative funding methods.
“As temperatures rise, millions of jobs become more dangerous or disappear entirely, pushing families deeper into poverty and changing where and how people can live and thrive,” said Naveen Rao, Vice-President for Health, Rockefeller Foundation, which supported this research.