Professor Ilan Noy - Economics of Disasters and Climate Change

Professor Ilan Noy is the Chair in Economics of Disasters and Climate Change - Te Āwhionukurangi, at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. Ilan’s research and teaching focus on the economic aspects of natural hazards, disasters, climate change, and other related topics in environmental, development, and international economics. Ilan is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the SpringerNature journal Economics of Disasters and Climate Change. Having previously worked at the University of Hawai’i and consulting for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank (to name a few!), Ilan brings a wealth of knowledge to this conversation.

Professor Noy recently co-authored an article, published in Nature Communications, assessing the global cost of extreme weather attributable to climate change. Their findings revealed that extreme events attributable to climate change cost the world US$143 billion per year, yet the loss and damage funding agreement arrived at from COP27 will only offer an average of US$10 billion a year – a drop in the bucket compared to what’s truly needed. Ilan unpacks the paper’s findings and much more in our conversation.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ilan’s personal and professional background
• The diversity of topics that fall under the umbrella of the economics of disasters and climate change
• The driving force behind establishing the Journal Economics of Disasters and Climate Change
• Lack of consideration towards climate change in the field of economics
• The deficiencies of current assessment methods regarding the financial costs of climate change
• Considering the wide-ranging damage costs associated with climate change, as well as the costs associated with the loss of human life
• The need to reduce vulnerabilities and exposure to avoid increased costs associated with anthropogenic extreme weather events
• How economists attach a dollar value to human life
• Which countries and regions of the world feel the impact most
• The lack of economist engagement with the IPCC
• Changing the dialogue in future COPs
• Prioritising financial support where it’s truly needed

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