Topic » Population and Climate Change

PAI’s Climate Change Initiative is an ambitious multi-year program of research, advocacy, and strategic communications designed to bring our experience and expertise to the critical and complex relationships among population, gender, and climate change. This work strengthens understanding of the influence of population on greenhouse gas emissions, demonstrates how demographic variables relate to climate change vulnerability, and expands the concept of climate change resilience by highlighting critical gender, fertility, and reproductive health dimensions.

PAI has joined with multiple collaborators, including the the Joint Global Change Research Institute and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in a multi-disciplinary effort including the following program areas:

Population and the IPCC: Examining and clarifying population assumptions in the reports and scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading climate science body whose work forms the basis of most climate-related policy

Mapping Vulnerabilities to Climate Change: Developing interactive mapping tools that illustrate relationships among projected climate change impacts, demographic trends, reproductive health needs, and other socioeconomic factors related to climate change vulnerability

Strengthening Understanding of Climate Change Resilience: Conducting country case studies that explore resilience and climate change coping strategies, including to the role of women and reproductive health/family planning

Analyzing Climate Change and the MDGs: Deepening understanding of the links among climate change impacts, population and demographic variables, and prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)