No development strategy can ignore climate

After decades of industrialisation powered by fossil fuels, the costs of climate change are becoming ever more apparent in both the Global South and the Global North.

- Marcos Vinicius Chiliatto & Michael Krake

In Germany, flooding in 2021 left 190 people dead, displaced 40,000, and caused $40 billion in damage. And in Brazil, the 2024 Rio Grande do Sul flood claimed 188 lives and displaced more than 600,000 people, and Amazon wildfires destroyed an area the size of New Jersey and wreaked havoc on the regional economy, destroying livestock and agriculture, and causing tourism to plummet.

Even as US President Donald Trump has loudly proclaimed America’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement (again), a silent revolution is taking place just about everywhere else. Most countries know that they cannot ignore climate change in pursuing their economic development agendas. They understand that climate policies boost investment in important industries such as energy and manufacturing, support the development of new technologies that enhance productive capacities, and improve job quality. They also understand that climate and development financing are not at odds with one another or moving on separate tracks; rather, they are closely aligned with goals of driving productivity growth and social development.