The Inequities of Global Adaptation to Climate Change

H. K. Edmonds,, C. A. K. Lovell () and J. E. Lovell
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H. K. Edmonds,: School of Economics and Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (CEPA) at The University of Queensland, Australia
C. A. K. Lovell: School of Economics and Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (CEPA) at The University of Queensland, Australia
J. E. Lovell: School of Economics and Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (CEPA) at The University of Queensland, Australia
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: C. A. Knox Lovell

No WP022022, CEPA Working Papers Series from University of Queensland, School of Economics

Abstract: With global efforts to mitigate climate change lagging behind what is necessary to achieve Paris Agreement global warming targets, global mean temperatures are increasing, and weather extremes are becoming more frequent. When mitigation falters, adaptation to current and anticipated future climate conditions becomes increasingly urgent. This study provides a novel collection of adaptive capacity and adaptation readiness indicators, which it combines into a composite adaptation index to assess the relative adaptation performance of nations. Adaptation performance is assessed using two complementary techniques, a distance to frontier analysis and a dominance analysis. Developed countries perform relatively well and developing countries perform relatively poorly in both exercises. Adaptation performance is found to be closely related to both national income per capita and greenhouse gas emissions per capita, highlighting the inequities of global adaptation performance. These adaptation inequities are consistent with the IPCC assessment that nations most affected by climate change are those that are least able to adapt and contribute least to the problem, creating a need for assistance from developed countries.

Keywords: climate change; adaptive capacity; adaptation readiness; composite index; inequity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q54 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:qld:uqcepa:174

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