Climate change affects societies economically by damaging assets, reducing productivity and increasing adaptation costs. Socially, it threatens health, food and water security, housing, livelihoods and community stability, with impacts distributed unequally.
Level: SL and HL: Subtopic 6.2 Climate change: causes and impacts
The Mechanism
The enhanced greenhouse effect causes global warming and altered climate patterns. It can increase the frequency or intensity of heatwaves, droughts, floods, wildfires and coastal inundation. Exposure then transmits these hazards into economic and social systems.
| Impact pathway | Economic consequences | Social consequences |
|---|---|---|
| Extreme weather | Infrastructure damage and reconstruction costs | Death, displacement and disrupted services |
| Agricultural disruption | Lower yields and farmer incomes | Food insecurity, malnutrition and rural-to-urban migration |
| Heat stress | Lower labour productivity and higher healthcare costs | Heat illness and mortality among vulnerable groups |
| Sea-level rise | Lost coastal land and property; defence costs | Displacement and loss of cultural heritage |
| Water scarcity | Reduced output and higher supply costs | Poor sanitation, disease risk and competition over water |
These impacts interact as a system. Drought may reduce harvests, raising food prices and unemployment; this can deepen poverty, drive migration and increase political instability. In Bangladesh, sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion and cyclone exposure threaten coastal agriculture and settlements, while poorer households have fewer resources to relocate or adapt.
Environmental justice is central: groups that contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions may experience the greatest harm. For HL, this links directly to differentiated responsibility and vulnerability.
A common misconception is that climate change alone causes every disaster. Instead, it changes hazard probability or severity, while exposure, governance, wealth and infrastructure determine societal impacts.
Exam Technique
For an explain question, give a causal chain: climatic change, environmental hazard, economic effect and social consequence. For discuss or evaluate, compare societies, use a named example and conclude about vulnerability and adaptive capacity.