Climate justice gets harder as world population passes 8 billion

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Tuesday highlighted the importance of sustainable finance to address climate change and achieve decarbonisation.

“Sustainable finance has a crucial role to play in our efforts to address climate change and steadily achieve decarbonization,” Kuroda told an international forum.

The Japanese central bank expected its climate response financing operations to keep on functioning as a catalyst and encourage decarbonization efforts in Japan, he added.

The world population surged past 8 billion people on Tuesday, the United Nations said, warning that more hardship is in store for regions already facing resource scarcity due to climate change.

Whether its food or water, batteries or gasoline, there will be less to go around as the global population adds another 2.4 billion people by the 2080s, according to U.N. projections.

“Every single person needs fuel, wood, water, and a place to call home,” said Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Resource pressure will be especially daunting in African nations, where populations are expected to boom, experts say. These are also among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, and most in need of climate finance.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where some 738 million people already live without adequate food supplies, the population is projected to jump by 95% by mid-century, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace. The think tank warned in an October report that much of sub-Saharan Africa will be unsustainable by mid-century.

via Reuters