Are We Adapting to Climate Change?

Not much, at least not yet:

We investigate whether the sensitivity of economic, health, and livelihood outcomes to climate change has decreased over the past century, consistent with adaptation. Understanding that such adaptation is already occurring is critical to anticipating future climate damage, assessing the level of ambition needed in emissions reduction efforts, and understanding the additional investment in adaptation that may be needed to avoid further damage. Using extensive panel data across regions and outcomes, including data on mortality, agricultural productivity, crime, conflict, economic output, and damage from floods and tropical cyclones, we find limited evidence of adaptation to date. Of all the 21 results we study, six show a statistically decreasing sensitivity to climate change, five show an increasing sensitivity, and the rest show no statistically significant change. Our results do not mean that some documented adaptation efforts are ineffective or that some areas have not changed, but rather that the results of existing actions have not been very successful in reducing the overall climate impact. To avoid ongoing and future damage from warming, our results suggest the need to identify promising adaptation strategies and understand how they can be measured.

That’s according to a new NBER working paper by Marshall Burke, et.al.



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