Many countries have developed comparative advantages in energy and carbon-intensive sectors which have helped them escape poverty and fuel shared prosperity. This report deepens the understanding of the impacts that carbon-intensive countries may face from uncertain but possible developments such as international climate policies, trade measures, transformational technology trends, and shifts in consumer preferences that can affect global demand for fossil fuels and the cost of burning them. The report's methodological framework combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, offering new...

'Economic losses from natural disasters totaled $92 billion in 2015.' Such statements, all too commonplace, assess the severity of disasters by no other measure than the damage inflicted on buildings, infrastructure, and agricultural production. But $1 in losses does not mean the same thing to a rich person that it does to a poor person; the gravity of a $92 billion loss depends on who experiences it. By focusing on aggregate losses--the traditional approach to disaster risk--we restrict our consideration to how disasters affect those wealthy enough to have assets to lose in the first place,...