Climate change will have direct and immediate impacts on the poor and will make poverty reduction more difficult. Climate policies can benefit the poor by taking poverty and social concerns into account in their design.
February 9-10, academics and experts will meet in Washington, D.C., to explore the relationships between climate change and poverty by examining three areas: the impact on poor people’s livelihood and well-being; the impact on the risk for non-poor individuals to fall into poverty; and the impact on the ability of poor people to escape poverty.
The conference will be framed around four channels through which households can escape or fall into poverty: prices, assets, productivity, and opportunities. The discussion will explore how these channels are affected by climate change and policies, focusing on the exposure, vulnerability, and ability to adapt of the poor and those vulnerable to poverty.