Overlapping crises: How global warming is deepening global poverty

Since climate change is a global phenomenon, it is equally critical that countries work on mutually reinforcing climate-action plans beyond the individual emission-reduction targets

Climate change is not just a challenge for humanity in general, it has a key role to play in driving global poverty and inequality. This was a finding of the 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report titled “Overlapping Hardships and Climate Hazards”. The report, which overlaid climate-hazard data with multidimensional-poverty data — spanning health, education, and living standards — for the first time, established that eight out of 10 people living in multidimensional poverty, or about 887 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards such as extreme heat, floods, drought, or air pollution. Presented ahead of the