Broad threat to humanity from cumulative climate hazards intensified by greenhouse gas emissions

Authors

Camilo Mora, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Daniele Spirandelli, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Erik C. Franklin, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
John Lynham, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Michael B. Kantar, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Wendy Miles, Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative
Charlotte Z. Smith, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Kelle Freel, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology
Jade Moy, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Leo V. Louis, Cornell University
Evan W. Barba, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology
Keith Bettinger, East West Centre
Abby G. Frazier, East West Centre
John F. Colburn IX, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Naota Hanasaki, National Institute for Environmental Studies of Japan
Ed Hawkins, University of Reading
Yukiko Hirabayashi, Shibaura Institute of Technology
Wolfgang Knorr, Institutionen för Naturgeografi och Ekosystemvetenskap, Lunds Universitet
Christopher M. Little, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.
Kerry Emanuel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Justin Sheffield, University of Southampton
Jonathan A. Patz, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cynthia L. Hunter, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The ongoing emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is triggering changes in many climate hazards that can impact humanity. We found traceable evidence for 467 pathways by which human health, water, food, economy, infrastructure and security have been recently impacted by climate hazards such as warming, heatwaves, precipitation, drought, floods, fires, storms, sea-level rise and changes in natural land cover and ocean chemistry. By 2100, the world’s population will be exposed concurrently to the equivalent of the largest magnitude in one of these hazards if emmisions are aggressively reduced, or three if they are not, with some tropical coastal areas facing up to six simultaneous hazards. These findings highlight the fact that GHG emissions pose a broad threat to humanity by intensifying multiple hazards to which humanity is vulnerable.

Publication Title

Nature Climate Change

Publication Date

2018

Volume

8

Issue

12

First Page

1062

Last Page

1071

ISSN

1758-678X

DOI

10.1038/s41558-018-0315-6

Keywords

climate-change impacts, environmental impact

Repository Citation

Mora, Camilo; Spirandelli, Daniele; Franklin, Erik C.; Lynham, John; Kantar, Michael B.; Miles, Wendy; Smith, Charlotte Z.; Freel, Kelle; Moy, Jade; Louis, Leo V.; Barba, Evan W.; Bettinger, Keith; Frazier, Abby G.; Colburn IX, John F.; Hanasaki, Naota; Hawkins, Ed; Hirabayashi, Yukiko; Knorr, Wolfgang; Little, Christopher M.; Emanuel, Kerry; Sheffield, Justin; Patz, Jonathan A.; and Hunter, Cynthia L., "Broad threat to humanity from cumulative climate hazards intensified by greenhouse gas emissions" (2018). Geography. 14.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/14