As COP30 is coming to an end, it is important to recognize how, despite lack of high-political interest in the summit, climate change is impacting everyday lives and destroying livelihoods.
Climate change is not just yet another factor that is pushing people to seek better lives abroad; it sometimes forces them to rebuild their lives elsewhere. If the issue is not addressed, these conditions will only worsen – but people will keep fleeing disasters.
Displacement Worsens with Climate Crisis
According to data from the UNHCR, at least 117 million people have been displaced by war, violence, or persecution, but many of these people suffer under the consequences of the climate crisis as well.
The IOM has expressed the need for climate mobility to be an important aspect of negotiating adaptation plans, as more are forced from their homes for various reasons.
“People and communities who choose to stay must be safe, and those who decide to move must have the option to do so with dignity,” Ugochi Daniels, IOM’s Deputy Director General, said.
Most never end up leaving their state but become internally displaced, but soon, experts warn, entire nations will disappear under rising sea levels or become uninhabitable due to drought.
The UNHCR’s report, titled ‘No Escape II – The Way Forward,’ states that of the 117 million displaced, 75%, or 86 million, were exposed to high-extreme hazards by mid-2025.
As a “risk multiplier,” climate change unveils the inherent inequalities present in our global society, such as conflict, violence, and forced displacement, according to the UNHCR report.
Chad, for example, is an incredibly fragile state with increased climate vulnerability. Despite this, it hosts more than 1.4 million refugees and asylum seekers. In 2024, 1.3 million were forced to leave their homes and camps due to extreme flooding, more than the previous 15 years’ disaster-related displacements combined.
“Such high exposure, combined with heightened vulnerability and low adaptive capacity to climate hazards, undermines efforts to build self-reliance and resilience,” the report reads.
Environmental Degradation Contributing to Refugee Crisis
Environmental degradation is a direct consequence of climate change: accelerated breakdown of ecosystems and decreasing access to clean water and arable soil, as well as extreme weather disasters, all affect environments globally.
In the last 10 years, weather-related disasters caused 250 million people to be displaced within their own countries – that’s roughly 70,000 people each day, or about two people forced to move every three seconds.
The International Chamber of Commerce says extreme weather events have also inflicted over $2 trillion in economic losses worldwide during the past ten years.
Robert Montinard from Haiti says the 2010 earthquake, lasting only 10 seconds, shattered lives forever. He himself fled to Brazil as a refugee. He argues that places like Florida in the US rebuild quickly after such disasters, but impoverished states like Haiti suffer for decades after; he says it exemplifies climate injustice.
By 2040, the count of countries experiencing severe climate risks could increase from three to as many as 65, according to the UNHCR.
Up to 40% of lands are degraded across the globe, threatening drinking water supplies and food security, affecting half of humanity. Between 2015 and 2019, the UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) estimates 100 million hectares of productive land were degraded each year, which equates to roughly the size of Egypt every single year.
Such droughts are causing issues with food and water supplies, causing armed conflict, like in Nigeria, and contributing to conflicts in places like Ethiopia.
Rising heat is also a major concern: by 2050, the hottest refugee camps could face nearly 200 days of extreme heat stress each year, making it a serious threat to survival. “Many of these locations are likely to become uninhabitable due to the deadly combination of extreme heat and high humidity,” the UNHCR warns.
Such events also affect global health. “If our planet were a patient, it would be admitted to intensive care,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.
Major Problems: Lack of Funds and Specialized Policies
“Funding cuts are severely limiting our ability to protect refugees and displaced families from the effects of extreme weather,” Filippo Grandi, the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Refugees, warned in his opening speech for the UN COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil.
“If we want stability, we must invest where people are most at risk,” he added. “To prevent further displacement, climate financing needs to reach the communities already living on the edge. They cannot be left alone. This COP must deliver real action, not empty promises.”
The UNHCR advised leaders to include refugees in solutions instead of marginalizing them, providing climate finance as proper aid to climate-vulnerable states, and investing in sustainable, conflict-sensitive programs.
“The consequences of delayed action – both human and financial – are escalating,” warns the UNHCR report. “The way forward must be grounded in inclusive, practical solutions that reflect the realities on the ground.”
