World Bank Warns: Turn Down the Heat!

With science and attention like this I could positively get to like the World Bank.  The President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, starts out its new “Turn Down the Heat” report (pdf), focusing on developing countries, with these unhesitating words:

It is my hope that this report shocks us into action. Even for those of us already committed to fighting
climate change, I hope it causes us to work with much more urgency.

This report spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what
scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.

The 4°C scenarios are devastating: the inundation of coastal cities; increasing risks for food production potentially leading to higher 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 frequency of high-intensity tropical cyclones; and irreversible loss of
biodiversity, including coral reef systems.

And most importantly, a 4°C world is so different from the current one that it comes with high uncertainty and new risks that threaten our ability to anticipate and plan for future adaptation needs.

Read the report at the link above, or a short article at the World Bank site, here.