GLOBAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE1
Global Impacts of Climate Change
The continuing rise of average global temperatures will increase impacts to human
health, global infrastructure, and energy demands. Appropriate mitigation steps are required in
order to prevent the compounding of these impacts on the global economy. Morales (2013)
states “a temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) since
industrialization may lead to losses of as much as 2 percent of global economic output, an
analysis by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed. Temperatures have
already risen by about 0.8 degrees” (para. 2).
According to Melillo and Yohe (2014) health costs are already being impacted as “health-
related costs of the current effects of ozone air pollution exceeding national standards have been
estimated at $6.5 billion (in 2008 U.S. dollars) nationwide, based on a U.S. assessment of health
