EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Description
Climate change is quickly becoming one of the most concerning issues around the globe. Scientists and researchers give the earth less than 10 years until it warms to a temperature that is not suitable for life. As humans continue to burn fossil fuels creating heat-trapping gases, natural disasters, such as droughts, storms, heatwaves, and floods run wild. The implications of these disasters affect millions of people daily, causing forced removal from their homes, sickness, and death.

Stakeholders Impacted
Every living human is a stakeholder of climate change and has a duty to monitor climate change, as it determines the future of our earth. Although this is true, larger groups of people have more of an impact and influence climate change. Government bodies, businesses, scientists, and individuals would be the main way to categorize the stakeholders with the most influence over climate change. Government bodies are our best bet at implementing policies, as they have the legal binding power and the authority to enforce these decisions. Businesses see the majority of the blame thrown at them, as they are responsible for large amounts of pollution and harm done to the environment. However, the impacts of climate change become more expensive every day, so it will soon be beneficial for businesses to aid in the prevention of climate change before they lose billions of dollars from potential damages caused by climate change. Scientists are among the most important people needed to solve this crisis, as they have the knowledge and tools to properly study and monitor the climate. Their suggestions and solutions are invaluable and are the key to saving the earth. Individuals also play a vital role in climate change. Most people say their efforts to be environmentally conscious are useless because there are so many people in the world. That is exactly the reason it is important. If all 7.753 billion people living on the earth decided to improve their personal choices and become more environmentally friendly, the world would be much better off.

Industries Impacted
The economic impacts of climate change are profound, and the more we wait to enact change, the more costs increase exponentially. As a base number, the Swiss Re Institute estimates that by 2050, the world’s GDP will decrease by 18%, which equals $23 trillion. This number is divided up into different industries of the economy, with agriculture, infrastructure, human health, tourism, businesses, and poor communities taking the majority of the damages. Agriculture is the most impacted industry, as rising temperatures and rising water levels have been decimating crops. For each degree Celsius temperatures increase, there will be a 5 to 15 percent decrease in crop production. Infrastructure, for the same reason, is also taking a beating. $5 trillion will need to be spent within the next few years to repair infrastructure, and that number will increase the more we ignore the climate. Tourism is another industry impacted. Increasing temperatures affect both summer and winter vacation sports in different ways. Toxic algae-infested waters and a lack of snow and ice proved to be extremely damaging to the tourism industry. Businesses are also unable to escape from the financial responsibilities of climate change, as the 215 biggest global companies stand to lose over $1 trillion within the next 10 years. Human health is the final, and most important industry to be impacted. By 2030, it is estimated that 130 million people will be in extreme poverty due to climate change. To go further, 150,000 people die per year due to climate-related reasons. The losses from climate-related deaths are projected to be higher than 140 billion dollars by 2090.

Trends
The trends developing over the past several decades are alarming regarding climate change. As the earth continues to warm and the effects of this warming wreak havoc, all sectors of the world are forced to cooperate. Societies, technologies, economies, environments, and politics must put their selfish motives to the side to work to solve this ever-increasing crisis on our hands. Until that happens, heat waves, cold waves, floods, droughts, and fires continue to affect millions. The intensity, frequency, and duration of these natural disasters have been, and will continue to increase as the amount of fossil fuels being burned goes unchecked. Hundreds of thousands of humans, animals, and other living organisms die each year, and that number will soon reach millions if more action is not taken.

Opportunities
The opportunities for innovation in climate change are nearly limitless. The innovations that have begun to arise, and the distant technologies waiting to be invented are instrumental in stopping and reversing the effects of climate change. Self-healing infrastructure is in the very early stages of its development. The idea of self-healing bridges and buildings has been around for years, but so far no one has been able to make it a reality. In the EU, Dr. Theodoridou has identified a bacteria that can act much like the immune cells in the human body that are responsible for detecting injuries and aiding healing. This bacteria, if successful, will be the first step in saving trillions of dollars from unnecessary repairs of infrastructure. As for the technologies that have yet to be invented, as long as they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they will be successful and useful. New or improved technologies can enable devices such as vehicles, machinery, and appliances to use energy more efficiently, create or utilize alternative energy carriers and chemicals that emit less GHG per unit of useful product or service, or create alternative ways of providing goods and services that are less GHG-intensive.

Weak Signals
There have been numerous promising technological advances in the field of robotics that can drastically improve the outlook of climate change. Two examples of these emerging technologies are firefighting drones and robot bees that pollinate flowers. Although these innovations are still developing, there have been encouraging results. These new firefighting drones are 30 times cheaper than the cost of some firefighting bots in use, while also blasting water 10 times faster than a conventional fire hose. As many bee colonies collapse due to climate change, robot bees can replace them. Additionally, these robot bees can be used to aid the agriculture industry, as their effectiveness of pollinating tomatoes and blackberries is being studied. Furthermore, they thrive in settings such as growth chambers and indoor vertical farming, where real bees struggle.