Global Warming already costing $125bn a year in economic losses

Global Warming is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and results in annual economic losses of $125bn, according to a major new study on the human impact of climate change.

The report was released today by the Global Humanitarian Forum, a think tank run by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and is being touted as the first comprehensive assessment of the human impacts of climate change.

It calculates that climate change is already having adverse effects on 325m globally, and warns that this number will rise to 660m, equivalent to 10 per cent of the world's population by 2030.

It also warns that the annual economic cost of climate change impacts, such as droughts, heat waves, flooding and storms, will rise to around $300bn over the next two decades, while the yearly death toll is expected to rise to almost 500,000.

Annan said that the report, which has been released just ahead of next week's latest round of international climate talks in Bonn, highlighted the urgent need for a global deal to tackle climate change.

"Climate change is a silent human crisis. Yet it is the greatest emerging humanitarian
challenge of our time," he warned. "Already today, it causes suffering to hundreds of millions of people most of whom are not even aware that they are victims of climate change. We need an international agreement to contain climate change and reduce its widespread suffering."

The report also called for a drastic increase in investment in climate change adaptation measures, particularly in developing countries which currently account for 99 per cent of all climate change casualties.

It calculates that a 100-fold increase in spending on adaptation measures is required to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

The funding of adaptation measures is expected to be one of the most contentious areas of debate at next week's UN-backed talks.

Developed nations have largely accepted that they have an obligation to help fund adaptation in the developing world they are reluctant to invest the sums being proposed by larger developing nations, such as China and India. There are also on-going debates over how such measures should be funded, with some countries proposing straight payments to poorer nations and others calling for the introduction of a global insurance-based system.