Climate Change and Poverty: An Analytical Framework

This policy document explores the relationship between climate change and poverty by examining the impact of climate change on 1) poor people’s livelihoods and wellbeing, 2) the risk for non-poor people to fall into poverty and 3) the ability of poor people to escape poverty. The paper concludes that climate change is likely to represent a major obstacle to a sustained eradication of poverty. Climate policies are compatible with poverty reduction by the appropriate set of social policies, and climate change does not modify how poverty policies should be designed, but rather, it creates greater needs and more urgency due to more frequent and more severe shocks and extreme weather events.