AFP, Paris

Climate change is already shaving billions off the world’s economy, with developing countries hardest hit, according to a new report published Tuesday ahead of COP28 climate negotiations.

The report by the University of Delaware estimated that impacts from human-caused climate change cut 6.3 percent from global economic output last year, when weighted across populations.

The figures reflect both direct consequences of climate change -- such as disruptions to agriculture and manufacturing, and reduced productivity from high heat -- as well as spill-over impacts on global trade and investments.

“The world is trillions of dollars poorer because of climate change and most of that burden has fallen on poor countries,” said lead author James Rising of the University of Delaware.

“I hope that this information can clarify the challenges that many countries already face today and the support they urgently need to address them,” he added.

When calculated without taking into account impacts borne by the average person, the global GDP loss was 1.8 percent of GDP -- or about $1.5 trillion dollars -- in 2022.

“The difference between those two numbers reflects the uneven distribution of impacts, which concentrate in low-income countries and tropical regions that typically have more population and less GDP,” the authors said in a statement.