Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland rank among the places most at risk from physical climate change in Oceania and the world, according to a report released by climate risk specialists XDI.
Experts told The New Daily the report’s findings were “unsurprising” as researchers in Australia, CSIRO and the IPCC have been publishing that the impacts of climate change will be severe for decades.
XDI’s Gross Domestic Climate Risk report ranks more than 2600 territories worldwide based on physical risk to the built environment from climate change. This includes damage caused by flooding, forest fires and sea-level rises.
The report also identifies which jurisdictions will see the greatest modelled damage escalation from 1990 to 2050.
The small island states of the Pacific are clearly known to be among the places most at risk from climate change due to rising sea levels and storm activity, but the report highlights risk in Oceania concentrated in developed and heavily populated areas, like Australia’s east coast.
Globally, Victoria was ranked 70th on the aggregated damage ratio, ahead of NSW at 75 and Queensland at 83.
The aggregated damage ratio looks at the total amount of damage to the built environment in a particular province due to climate change.
University of Melbourne senior lecturer in climate science Dr Andrew King said while the report highlights the vulnerability of the nation’s three most populous states, all Australians should be concerned by climate change.
All of Australia ‘susceptible’
“As far as I can tell, all parts of Australia can suffer from extreme weather events,” Dr King said.
“All parts of Australia are susceptible to heat extremes, extreme rain and flooding, at least in some areas of each major city.”
He warned that flood inundation posed a great risk to the built environment.
“River flooding is one of the causes that can lead to significant damage, such as the flooding that occurred in Victoria during the spring of last year, and in places like Lismore and other parts of NSW almost a year ago,” he said.
Lead data scientist and modeller at soil carbon measuring firm Carbon Link, Dr Melanie Zeppel, told TND that rural and regional areas were particularly vulnerable.
Dr Zeppel said this was due to high insurance costs combined with people from low socio-economic groups.
The insurance, and health costs of climate change are in the billions, she said.
“It is widely known by people who work in climate that the costs of inaction are larger than the costs of acting on climate change.”
Global snapshot
The results show that globally-significant states and provinces in China and the United States will be hit hardest, along with major cities and centres of economic activity around the world.
The report found that:
- Two of China’s largest sub-national economies – Jiangsu and Shandong – top the global ranking, in first and second place. Over half of the provinces in the global top 50 are in China
- After China, the US has the most high-risk states with 18 states in the top 100. Florida is the highest-ranking US state, followed by California and Texas
- Together, China, India and the US make up over half the states and provinces in the top 100
- Other highly developed and globally significant economic hubs in the top 100 include Buenos Aires, São Paolo, Jakarta, Beijing, Hồ Chí Minh City, Taiwan and Mumbai
- South-East Asia will see the greatest escalation in damage from 1990 to 2050 anywhere in the world
- Globally, most damage is caused by riverine and surface flooding, or flooding combined with coastal inundation.
