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Overview

No country today is immune from the impacts of climate change.

  • According to our research, climate change could drive 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050, with hotspots of internal migration emerging as soon as 2030, spreading and intensifying thereafter.
  • Climate change could cut crop yields, especially in the world’s most food-insecure regions. At the same time, agriculture, forestry, and land use change are responsible for about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. The agriculture sector is core to addressing the climate challenge.

Reducing emissions and boosting resilience is possible, but requires major social, economic and technological changes.

Priorities for climate action also differ significantly across countries and across sectors.

The urgency and scale of the challenge requires countries to learn quickly from each other, adapt to their own special circumstances, and be bold in implementing policies that bend the emissions curve and improve livelihoods.

  • The challenge for developing countries is they no longer have an opportunity to develop first in a high carbon-intensive way and then clean up and decarbonize later. They need support today to make investments now to slow a changing climate and enable billions to live safer, more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable lives.
  • If they are well designed and implemented, the policies countries put in place for low-carbon, resilient growth could also help them address poverty and inequality.

The Bank Group has a clear role to play in supporting our client countries so that they are prepared for the low-carbon, resilient transition, enabling them to build climate-smart economies that are green, resilient and inclusive.

Last Updated: May 12, 2023

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