Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The US and China, the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have caused global economic losses of more than $1.8 trillion from 1990 to 2014, according to a new Dartmouth College study that links emissions from individual countries to the economic damage of climate change. others. The report, published in the journal Climatic Change on Tuesday, found that some top emitting countries are responsible for causing large economic losses to poorer countries that are more vulnerable to global warming. The researchers said climate change has caused economic losses to countries, hurting agricultural yields, reducing labor productivity and limiting industrial output. Just five of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters caused $6 trillion in global economic losses through warming from 1990 to 2014, according to the report. Russia, India, and Brazil individually incurred economic losses exceeding $500 billion each during the same period. “This research provides an answer to the question of whether there is a scientific basis for climate liability claims — the answer is yes,” said Christopher Callahan, Ph.D. candidate at Dartmouth and study author, in a statement. “We have quantified each nation’s responsibility for historical temperature-driven income changes in every other country.” Climate-related lawsuits have historically targeted the actions of oil and gas companies rather than the responsibility of an individual country. But more countries in recent years have called on wealthier nations to pay for the “loss and damage” from climate-changing emissions. The US has rejected the possibility that countries with high levels of emissions should compensate more vulnerable countries for such damage. The report estimated the damage caused by a single country’s emissions to another single country’s economy in a sample of 143 countries for which data are available. Countries facing economic losses from US emissions have warmer temperatures and are poorer than the global average, the study found. They are generally found in the global South or the tropics. For example, the U.S. from 1990 to 2014 cost Mexico a total of $79.5 billion in economic losses related to emissions produced on U.S. soil, according to the study. The US also cost the Philippines $34 billion in economic losses. In contrast, U.S.-produced emissions had a positive economic impact on countries such as Canada and Russia, contributing $247 billion and $341 billion in gains, respectively, according to the analysis. The study said countries that have benefited from US emissions have cooler temperatures and are wealthier than the global average. These countries are usually located in northern or middle latitudes. Warmer temperatures, in some cases, can help increase production by boosting crop yields. The distribution of climate change impacts is also uneven, with the top 10 emitters accounting for more than two-thirds of global losses. “This research provides legally valuable estimates of the economic damages that individual nations have suffered due to other countries’ climate change activities,” Justin Mankin, assistant professor of geography and senior researcher on the study, said in a statement. “The responsibility for warming lies primarily with a handful of major emitters, and that warming has resulted in the enrichment of a few rich countries at the expense of the world’s poorest people,” Mankin said.
