Main Project
The consensus view on climate change states that the number of extreme weather events will significantly increase in the future. The economic literature has mostly analyzed the macroeconomic impact of climate change. There is hardly any evidence on the consequences of extreme weather events on the firm level. In particular, there is a need for data on the consequences for the value-added process in different sectors. The aim of this study is to gain first insights from a business survey.
As there is no data from official statistics, the questionnaire of the monthly ifo business survey for the Industry was extended by two questions. The first question aimed at the firms' past experience with the impact of extreme weather events on the value-added process. The second question dealt with the future consequences of climate change for the different divisions of firms. Due to the large sample size of the ifo business survey, the data could also be analysed with regard to differences between industries, regions and firm size.
ifo Business Survey
On average, industry firms experienced slightly negative consequences from extreme weather events. In particular, longer spells of cold weather waves were reported to disrupt the production process. There were no significant differences with respect to the size or the location of firms. However, the impact of climate change differs across industries. For instance, manufacturers of food products, beverages and tobacco reported on average stronger negative effects of climate change; firms producing transport equipment were concerned less than other branches.
Heike Auerswald and Robert Lehmann: „Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf das verarbeitende Gewerbe - Ergebnisse einer Unternehmensbefragung“, in: ifo Dresden berichtet 02/2011, p. 16-22. (Download PDF, 156 KB).
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