A climate game developed by Max Planck researchers shows that global cooperation can be possible – although not without effort.
In 2018, around 16 million people were displaced by extreme climate events. People from poorer countries flee more often as a result of climate events. Scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and Meteorology in Hamburg have used a climate game to investigate how extreme climate events combined with poverty affect the migration of people to rich countries if the participants are also expected to finance measures against climate change. In this economic experiment, the representatives of the wealthy countries were rarely able to stop climate change and migration. In contrast, the representatives of the poorer countries are prepared to support a minimum level of climate protection by the rich.
Climate change is accompanied by extreme events such as floods, heat waves, and tropical hurricanes. “Such events will become more frequent and intense. This will also increase climate-induced migration”, says Jochem Marotzke from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. Climate change and the resulting events affect poorer population groups the most. But combating it is a global challenge. This is partly why effective climate protection is difficult to implement.
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