A further rise in the concentrations of greenhouse gases will lead to further changes in the global climate. The authors are cautious on the causes of climate change. This implies that at least part of the damage caused by weather extremes is due to human-induced climate change. We draw this conclusion with reasonable but not absolute confidence, as the observed changes could, with low probability, still be attributed to natural climate variability. They say some regions will gain from changing weather patterns, while others will lose.
Climate change brings about a global redistribution of the costs and benefits of the weather.
The costs will be greater than the benefits, as ecological and societal systems will have difficulty adapting. Global society does not have the instruments and institutions that could help to compensate the losers. The report concludes it is countries south of the equator, which have less infrastructure to cope with the demands of disaster, that will see much of the extreme weather. It suggests these will probably include an increase in the frequency of conditions like those caused by El Nino, the periodic temperature fluctuation in the Pacific, with shorter and stronger La Ninas. It expects that during the summer months southern Europe will become drier, while the north of the continent will probably be wetter.