Methodology
To find the 25 popular cities in the world that would be most impacted by climate change in the next 20-30 years, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a study, 2050 Climate Change City Index, published in Nestpick, a platform for furnished rental apartments. The study includes 85 cities that are top destinations and that had data in research papers used for this report. Each city was rated across three categories: sea-level, climate, and water shortage. Cities are ranked by their total score (out of 100). A score of 100 indicates the most extreme changes in climate over the next three decades.
Potential sea-level rise impact: The higher the score, the higher the potential flooding/sea level impact in that city by 2050. Nestpick used sea-level rise projections of two studies accessed through the Coastal Risk Screening Tool provided by Climate Analytics.
The climate category includes: temperature baseline (1970 – 2000), temperature 2050, temperature shift, climate type 2021, climate type 2051, climate shift. Nestpick’s sources were the studies, “Understanding Climate Change From A Global Analysis Of City Analogues” and “Koppen-Geiger Observed and Predicted Climate Shifts” projections via ArcGIS.
The water shortage category includes water shortage 2020 (demand vs. supply ratio), water shortage 2040, water shortage relative change (%), water stress increase (score). Nestpick’s sources for this are the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas or when unavailable other sources.
24/7 Wall St. added population data from the U.N.’s World Urbanization Prospects 2018. Population figures are for urban agglomerations (the contiguous urban area, or built-up area).
