Climate crisis and sustainability – the impact of climate change on SDG indicators in Germany.

Fehnker, D., Reuschel, S. & Stöver, B. (2025): Climate crisis and sustainability – the impact of climate change on SDG indicators in Germany. GWS Discussion Paper 2025/ 1, Osnabrück.

Abstract

The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events are becoming more and more evident in Europe and warming is occurring much faster than previously thought. Despite the necessary mitigation and decarbonisation efforts, the global warming that has already started and the associated climate change will inevitably lead to more extreme weather events and climate damages. The assessment of damages from climate change is mainly based on GDP losses. By focusing on GDP as the central indicator, other sustainability aspects are ignored.
The aim of this study is to take a broader view of the impact of climate change on society and the economy and therefore to look at other sustainability indicators in addition to GDP.
The impact of climate change on the German economy was determined using a model-based scenario analysis. Key climate impacts were translated into monetary values and the economic consequences were estimated using the national macroeconomic input-output model INFORGE. The impact of climate change was caclucalted as losses in GDP and supplemented by changes in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The results show that climate change has a clear negative impact on economic develop-ment: price-adjusted GDP losses will total €660 billion by 2050. At the same time, the effects of climate change also have a negative impact on the SDGs. SDG2 Zero Hunger in partic-ular is worsening due to rising food prices. Overall, it is becoming apparent that considering the climate costs in relation to sustainability goals highlights other important issues that would otherwise be overlooked.