The climate crisis is predominantly framed in environmental terms, though the impacts of climate change will be far broader than just that.
The economic and societal impacts of unmitigated global heating are already on show.
According to Allianz Trade’s report, ‘Too hot to grow: The economic costs of extreme heat’, heat stress events have increased sevenfold since the 1980s, with the average number of deaths per event rising fivefold.
The knock-on effects of the crisis are particularly visible in the energy sector right now, where grid instability, infrastructure stress and a huge spike in the demand for cooling are all converging.
Climate change is intensifying both the frequency and severity of heatwaves, with direct consequences for energy consumption patterns worldwide.
