Guess What Else Climate Change Hurts? Globalization

Multinational corporations rely on supply chains, and climate change could disrupt the efficiency. Weather-related disasters from flooding, droughts and wildfires cost billions of dollars in damage. “Manufacturing these days involves facilities in multiple countries, each of which has a sequential role in taking raw materials a step closer to being finished products,” reports Eric Roston for Bloomberg. “This ‘vertical specialization,’ it turns out, may have a blind spot when it comes to climate change, according to new research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Manufacturing is only as strong as the weakest, or in this case hottest, link in the supply chain.” Studies have shown that high temperatures are also costly by reducing worker productivity. The article also shows increasing global reliance on India, where summer temperatures often hover near 100 degrees Fahrenheit, for supplies. – YaleGlobal