Source: https://www.unescap.org/blog/uncertainty-climate-change-and-climate-action#

There is broad consensus on certain aspects of climate change – the “certainties”. These include rising global temperatures, increasing sea levels, and shifting weather patterns. These also include hard evidence that the multifaceted socio-economic impacts of climate change, though vary significantly across regions and countries, are predominantly negative.

However, as ESCAP’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2025 argues, beyond these broader points of agreement lies a far more complex reality – a world of uncertainty. This is the world in which people live, and where most economic activity and climate action unfold. Disagreement is rife, and consensus is rare. Will global temperatures rise by 2°C or 3°C by the end of this century? Will sea levels increase by 40 or 80 centimetres by then? How drastically will rainfall patterns shift? How severe the impact will be on economic output, growth and productivity?