Abstract

The 2007 assessment of the IPCC has given us a clearer picture of the likely impacts of climate change, but only since then has there been a comparable analysis of the damages that might be avoided under varying amounts of emissions reduction. This now gives us a picture of the damage that will need to be avoided by adaptation, but information on feasibility and cost of adaptation is even more limited. Current estimates of the funding needed for adaptation are in the range $50-150 billion annually by 2030. But these probably represent a colossal under-estimate.

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Martin Parry is Visiting Professor at the Grantham Institute and Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. He was Co-Chair of the IPCC ’s 2007 Impacts and Adaptation Assessment (Working Group II). Formerly he was Professor of Geography at the Universities of Oxford, University College London and Birmingham; and Professor of Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia. He has published about 140 scientific papers and 5 books on climate change impacts. His specific research interests are on climate change and agriculture.