FILE- Barges fully loaded with coal are anchored on Mahakam river in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Dec. 19, 2022.
FILE- A farmer harvests rice crop in a paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, on June 6, 2023. FILE – A couple walk on a hill called ‘Teletubbies Hill’, a locally popular tourist attraction, as the chimneys of Suralaya coal power plant looms in the background, in Cilegon, Indonesia, on Jan. 8, 2023. FILE- Scooter commuters wait for a traffic light to change at an intersection in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jan. 12, 2024.
Most countries in the region have ratified treaties on climate change and presented national plans to cut their carbon emissions, but most also still lack clear road maps to reach “net zero” carbon emissions, the report said. At the same time, higher temperatures are hurting worker productivity and health, said the report, which estimated that regional economies might see their gross domestic products decline by 17% by 2070 in a worst-case scenario of high carbon emissions. Such a scenario would also result in a doubling of the destructive power of tropical cyclones and storms, as weather grows more volatile and extreme.
By some estimates, poverty could increase by 64%–117% by 2030 under a high-emissions climate scenario, relative to no climate change, and the entire regional economy could fall by about 17%. The worst declines are forecast for Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and India and will deepen over time.