Climate Change Report: ‘atlas of human suffering’ shows how world regions will be unequally impacted

Image: A child carries a water basin in the city of Gode, Ethiopia. Credit: Eduardo Soteras / AFP.

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report. 

The verdict is clear: it is now too late to avert the consequences of climate change. More importantly, the document points out that although we are all going to pay a price, not all parts of the globe will suffer equally. 

The graphic below illustrates just how poignant the inequalities will be between each world region. Especially when contrasted with their respective levels of CO2 emissions per capita.

                Data source: IPCC report 2022 (Vulnerabilities); Our World in Data 2018 (CO2 emissions).

According to the report, the severity of the future challenges faced by each world region will depend on their current socio-economic vulnerabilities. In other words, the less developed a region is, the more difficult it will be to protect its citizens and deal with disasters.

In contrast, while the most developed parts of the world are responsible for the highest CO2 emissions per capita, their level of development makes them more resilient to deal with the consequences.

This level of inequality is what prompted the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres to call the report “the 'atlas of human suffering”.