World Bank: climate change could increase number in poverty by 100m by 2030

Climate change could force over 100 million more people into poverty by 2030, the World Bank said on Sunday.

The bank has released a new report that says that ending poverty will be impossible if the impacts of global warming, including rising sea levels, drought and flooding are not addressed sufficiently in developing countries.

The bank’s report says that the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference will have to focus on sustainable development in poverty stricken areas to achieve an effective global response to climate change.

In a statement, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said: "Climate change hits the poorest the hardest, and our challenge now is to protect tens of millions of people from falling into extreme poverty because of a changing climate."

The bank estimates the number of poor at 702 million people in 2015 and says that there will be 100 million more poor people by 2030 on top of 900 million expected to be living in extreme poverty if development continues at the same pace.

The report says that better social safety nets and health coverage for all, as well as enhancing flood defences, early warning systems and hardier crops, could offset most of the negative impacts of climate change on poverty up to 2030, the report said.

Stephane Hallegatte, a senior World Bank economist who led the team that compiled the report, said: “We have a window of opportunity to achieve our poverty objectives in the face of climate change, provided we make wise policy choices now.”