EU study: Climate change will initially benefit Nordic regions

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions would not result in unemployment

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Northern Europe could significantly benefit from global warming in the near future.
      The drought threatening the Mediterranean countries, in turn, may alienate tourists from the area. These were among the findings of a fresh report commissioned by the European Commission, and reported in advance by The Financial Times in its online edition on Sunday.
      Crop yields would improve in Northern Europe and beaches around the North Sea and Baltic Sea would become popular holiday destinations.
     
Holiday trips from the North into Southern Europe, in turn, would peter out with devastating effects on Mediterranean economies. "This would jeopardise the EUR 100 billion a year spent on holidays in Southern Europe" The Financial Times writes.
      "The annual migration in search of 'sun, sand and sea' is the single largest flow of tourists across the globe, accounting for a sixth of all tourist trips in 2000", the paper continues.
      Reduced holidaying in the region would translate to an enormous loss of revenue for countries such as Spain, Italy, and Greece.
     
A three-degree rise in global temperatures by the year 2071 would result in 87,000 new deaths per year.
      A rise by 2.2 degrees would translate to an increase of 36,000 in annual fatalities.
      The sea levels may rise by up to a metre. Additional nutrients flowing into oceans would cause them to acidify which, in turn, would show as deaths of fish stock and reduced yields for the fishing industry.
     
On a more positive note, cutting the carbon dioxide emissions would not result in increased unemployment. New jobs would be created in technology sectors such as energy production.
      Reduction of worldwide emission by 25 percent by the year 2050 to match the levels in 1990 is possible both technically and economically, the report concludes.
      The study is the first one of its kind taking into account the effects of climate change in Europe as a whole. The European Commission will discuss its content next week.


Links:
  Financial Times article: Europe to suffer as the world warms up

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