Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • June 2016
06

Globalisation makes economic production more vulnerable to climate change

Open-access content Tuesday 14th June 2016 — updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Production losses caused by climate change in one part of the world can be felt in another due to globalisation, a study has revealed.

2


Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Columbia University explained this was because increased connectivity through supply chains could "amplify production losses", as these can be spread more easily across countries.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, examined data on temperature, population and the global economic network from 1991-2011 across 26 sectors in 186 countries.

The researchers noted that production losses had increased between that period, but the trend was not so pronounced in the 1990s and only became more apparent from 2001. 

"Since 2001, the economic connectivity has augmented in such a way as to facilitate the cascading of production loss," said the authors of the paper. 

Lead author Leonie Wenz said: "Our study shows that since the beginning of the 21st century the structure of our economic system has changed in a way that production losses in one place can more easily cause further losses elsewhere."

The Potsdam Institute added Typhoon Haiyan, which took place in the Philippines in 2013, destroyed more than half the world's production of coconut oil.  

The product "is one of the two most commonly used vegetable fats in food production worldwide", it said. 

Another example was a series of floods in Queensland in 2011, which stopped production in the world's fourth biggest coal exploration site for weeks, "with economic repercussions well beyond Australia".

Co-author Anders Levermann said: "To estimate the costs of future climate change we need to assess global economic impacts of more frequent heat extremes and meteorological impacts, such as floods and tropical storms, and understand their relation to the economic network's structure. 

"This is the basis for implementing appropriate adaptation measures - in a warming world with more intense weather extremes it is likely that society needs to become more resilient and more flexible."

This article appeared in our June 2016 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in
06
Topics
Environment

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

New Fast-Growing Team - Actuarial Systems Development

London (Greater)
Excellent Salary Package
Reference
143762

Actuarial Pension Consultant – Scotland/Remote – Up to £90,000 plus bonus

Edinburgh / Glasgow / Remote working
Up to £90,000 + Bonus
Reference
143761

Part Qualified Pensions Actuary– Specialised Pensions Consultancy - Scotland/Remote - Up to £70,000

Edinburgh / Glasgow / Remote working
Up to £70,000 + Bonus
Reference
143760
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ