Throughout the West’s diverse energy resource portfolio, in recent years there has been a shift away from large baseload resources (e.g., coal, nuclear) toward more renewable and largely variable resources.

Two of the major areas seen as most vulnerable to climate change impacts are the North Sea ports and the road and rail infrastructure along the Mediterranean.

IMF - Our latest forecast in April therefore projected the global economy to grow by 3.9 percent in 2018 and 2019 – 0.2 percent higher than our forecast last October. This acceleration is driven by both advanced countries and emerging and developing economies.

Moody’s last month also projected average prices of West Texas Intermediate crude at $40/bbl in 2016, $45/bbl in 2017, and $50/bbl in 2018. The 2016 price is down $8/bbl from the firm’s earlier forecast.

Oil, natural gas and coal producers are risking $2.2 trillion by investing in projects for which there will be no demand if the world meets a United Nations target of limiting the rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius, a non-profit think tank said.