Too hot to grow

By ALFRED ROMANN (China Daily) Updated: 2014-06-16 07:19

Gordon Hughes, a professor of economics at the University of Edinburgh and one of the authors of last year's ADB report on climate change in East Asia, says: "Richer countries tend to make more efforts to respond to problems like climate change. Japan and South Korea are doing more than China."

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The Philippines is further down the path of dealing with climate change, he adds. "The really important lesson is to invest more in protection like better buildings and castle defense. As countries like China and the Philippines get richer, they need to spend more on protection."

Regional cooperation is also key. Pooling emission targets can cut costs of meeting them by about a quarter. The reality is that climate change and its effects do not respect national borders.

Climate change has a wide impact, and can hit economic growth, the external performance of economies and public finances. And climate change is difficult to plan for because the impact is not even, but poorer and lower-rated countries are hit hardest. This, in turn, is likely to cause more global inequality.

"Rapidly urbanizing and energy-hungry Asia and the Pacific is on the way to becoming one of the world's major producers of greenhouse gas emissions, but it is also home to the largest number of climate-vulnerable people," says Michael Rattinger, a climate change specialist at the ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

"There is an urgent need to de-carbonize the economy while increasing climate resilience. It is not an exaggeration to say that the global battle against climate change will be won or lost in this region," Rattinger says.

The region must step up efforts to adapt to climate change, he says, as delaying will simply add to the cost. Governments are acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but the current targets of these plans are simply not enough.