The World Bank has warned that climate change may push 130 million people into the poverty bracket in the next nine years and another 200 million into migration by the year 2050.

President of the global bank, David Malpass, said tackling climate change will require major social, economic and technological changes, many of which are costly and require large investments.

He said to achieve climate objectives, it will be critical to integrate climate and development and identify projects at the country level that tackle mitigation and adaptation and channel appropriate sources and structures of financing toward these projects in a manner that maximises impact.

“This is a complex goal from both the financing and project side, and will need to build on mitigation and adaptation diagnostics that show the trajectory of emissions, the major vulnerabilities, and the best climate interventions.”

“These are the pillars of the World Bank Group’s new Climate Change Action plan (CCAP), which we launched in April 2021, and in which we committed to increase our climate finance target to 35 per cent of total commitments over the next five years, align our financing flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and achieve results that integrate climate and development,” he stated.

MEANWHILE, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said extreme weather events including powerful heat waves and devastating floods have become the new normal.

It disclosed this in the State of the Climate report for 2021 released yesterday, which highlights a world that is ‘changing before our eyes.’

The report stated that record greenhouse gas concentrations have pushed the planet into uncharted territory, with repercussions likely for current and future generations.
The WMO revealed that the 20-year temperature average from 2002 is on course to exceed 1C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, noting that global sea levels rose to a new high in 2021.

The body said the past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest ever, based on data for the first nine months of the year. The findings by WMO coincide with the start of the United Nations climate conference held in Glasgow and known as COP26.

The accompanying rise in temperatures is propelling the planet into “uncharted territory”, says the report, with increasing impacts across the planet.

Secretary-General of WMO, Prof Petteri Taalas, said: “Extreme events are the new norm. There is mounting scientific evidence that some of these bear the footprint of human-induced climate change.”

Reacting to the study, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said the planet is changing before our eyes, stressing that COP26 must be a turning point for people and the planet.