Climate crisis could dent global GDP by one-third this century, study finds

Effects harsher for ‘global south’ and even minor digressions from no-impact assumptions have huge potential impacts, reports Jon Sharman

A helicopter makes a water drop as a wildfire burns in Vilia, Greece, in August (Reuters)

The climate crisis could knock more than one-third off the world’s potential gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the century, a new report has claimed.

Researchers from several top global universities said the economic cost of carbon emissions could be about six times higher than previously thought because of the “persistent” effects of wildfires and other symptoms of global heating.

Experts from Cambridge University, Imperial College London and University College London contributed to the paper, plus others in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the US.