Health-related costs of climate change in Germany.

Reuschel, S. & Stöver, B. (2024): Health-related costs of climate change in Germany. GWS Discussion Paper 2024 / 3, Osnabrück.

Abstract

Climate change has a severe impact on human health and the healthcare system and also causes economic costs. The risk arises in particular from heat and rising temperatures. While the effects of climate change on health and the type of potential costs have already been discussed in numerous publications, there are little information on the exact amount of these costs, especially for Germany. The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding about the future economic costs of climate-related health damages in Germany. We carried out a scenario analysis using the macro-econometric model INFORGE / PANTA RHEI, considering three climate impacts: hospital admissions due to heat, heat stress for workers, and reduced productivity for allergy sufferers. The results show that the factors affecting labour productivity in particular cause high costs in the form of losses in GDP. Overall, the increased health risks from climate change result in GDP being 1.3% lower in 2050 than in the reference scenario.

Author(s):

Saskia Reuschel
Britta Stöver

Year of Publication:

2024

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