A multi-model assessment of inequality and climate change (Emmerling et al., October 2024)

date: 28/10/2024
Here the authors fill this gap through an ensemble of eight large-scale integrated assessment models that belong to different economic paradigms and feature income heterogeneity. They quantify the distributional implications of climate impacts and of the varying compensation schemes of climate policies compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement. By 2100, climate impacts will increase inequality by 1.4 points of the Gini index on average. Maintaining global mean temperature below 1.5 °C reduces long-term inequality increase by two-thirds but increases it slightly in the short term. However, equal per-capita redistribution can offset the short-term effect, lowering the Gini index by almost two points. The authors quantify model uncertainty and find robust evidence that well-designed policies can help stabilize climate and promote economic inclusion.
Read the full paper here.
Read the press release for this paper here.