World Bank Report Released: Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided

World Bank Report Released: Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided

by Taryn Rucinski

This week, the World Bank, a partnership established in 1944, that provides "financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world" released a report titled, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided. According to the press release, the 106-page report available here,

says that the 4°C scenarios are potentially devastating: the inundation of coastal cities; increasing risks for food production potentially leading to higher under and malnutrition rates; many dry regions becoming dryer, wet regions wetter; unprecedented heat waves in many regions, especially in the tropics; substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions; increased intensity of tropical cyclones; and irreversible loss of biodiversity, including coral reef systems.

. . .

The report notes, however, that a 4°C world is not inevitable and that with sustained policy action warming can still be held below 2°C, which is the goal adopted by the international community and one that already brings some serious damages and risks to the environment and human populations.