Estimating the Economic Damages of Climate Change in the Dominican Republic - September 11, 2023

Jul 19, 2026

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The report describes a structured method for estimating the economic damages of climate change in the Dominican Republic, with results used to inform a Climate Change Development Report (CCDR). Climate projections are processed through biophysical and economic models to evaluate vulnerability under a no-action baseline and to quantify resilience gains from adaptation investments. The approach selects representative climate scenarios, identifies macroeconomic impacts via impact channels, feeds shocks into a country-specific macroeconomic model, and assesses poverty effects and the benefits of adaptation options.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages165

Reading Time6 h 56 min

Introduction

Country Overview

Geography and climatology

Socioeconomic context

Methodological Overview

Analytical approach

Policy and adaptation scenarios

Climate scenarios

Impact Channel Results

Human capital

Water and agriculture

Infrastructure and services

Summary and Conclusions

Summary

Conclusions

References

Appendix A: Climate data and scenario selection

Appendix B: Impact channel methods

Appendix C: Data sources

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disc losure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Estimating the Economic Damages of Climate Change in the Dominican Republic September 11 , 2023 Prepared for: Katharina Siegmann World Bank Prepared by: Brent Boehlert, Kenneth Strzepek, and Diego Castillo Industrial Economics, Incorporated 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 USA +1 617 354 0074 Pub lic Disc losure Authorized TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYM LIST 1. INTRODUCTION 2. COUNTRY OVERVIEW 2.1 Geography and climatology 2.2 Socioeconomic context 3. METHODOLOGICAL OVERVIEW 3.1 Analytical approach 3.2 Policy and adaptation scenarios 3.3 Climate scenarios 4. IMPACT CHANNEL RESULTS 4.1 Human capital 4.2 Water and agriculture 4.3 Infrastructure and services 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Summary 5.2 Conclusions REFERENCES APPENDIX A: CLIMATE DATA AND SCENARIO SELECTION APPENDIX B: IMPACT CHANNEL METHODS APPENDIX C: DATA SOURCES ACRONYM LIST CCDR Country Climate Development Report CMIP6 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 GCM General Circulation Models GDP Gross domestic product RCP Representative Concentration Pathway SSP Shared Socioeconomic Pathway USD United States Dollar WEAP Water Evaluation And Planning 1. INTRODUCTION This report outlines the process of estimating the economic damages of climate change for the Dominican Republic, with these damage estimates subsequently informing a Climate Change Development Report (CCDR) for the Dominican Republic. The development of a CCDR provides an opportunity to better understand the benefits and costs of climate action and crosssectoral policy priorities to manage climate risks effectively. Within the activity documented in this report, climate projections are run through biophysical and economic models to assess the country’s vulnerability to climate change under a no-action scenario, and how adaptation investments can enhance resilience. This is done by first selecting a representative set of climate scenarios, used to assess the macroeconomic effects of climate change. Macroeconomic shocks arising from relevant “channels of impact” under climate change are then explored, with these shocks serving as input for a country-specific macroeconomic model as well as additional modeling to estimate the poverty impacts of climate change. Finally, the potential benefits of different adaptation options to reduce the impacts of climate change are assessed. With this section having provided an introduction to the project, Section 2 goes on to provide country-specific geographic, climatological and socio-economic background. Section 3 providesan overview of the analytical approach used to estimate economic damages from climate change. Section 4 presents results for each impact channel assessed and Section 5 presents a summary of the key findings as well as conclusions. Appendices A and B present details on the methodologies used for the development of climate scenarios and impact channels, respectively. Appendix C documents the data sources used to conduct the analysis. 2. COUNTRY OVERVIEW This section provides a description of the geography and historical climatology of the Dominican Republic, as well as an overview of the country’s socioeconomic context. This background information was used to inform the development of both the analytical approach and key assumptions for estimating climate change damages in the country. 2 .1 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE The Dominican Republic, located in the Caribbean Region, occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola. Its administrative capital is Santo Domingo, located on the southeast coast of the country (Figure 1). It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the south, and Haiti to the west. FIGURE 1 . COUNTRY MAP Source: WorldAtlas (2021) The country consists of five natural regions: (1-3) tropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical d

FAQs

What is the purpose of estimating climate change economic damages for the Dominican Republic?

The damages estimate are used to inform a Climate Change Development Report (CCDR), helping assess the benefits and costs of climate action and cross-sectoral policy priorities to manage climate risks effectively.

How does the report estimate economic damages?

It runs climate projections through biophysical and economic models, selects representative climate scenarios, and analyzes macroeconomic shocks through defined impact channels that feed into a country-specific macroeconomic model and poverty-impact modeling.

How are adaptation investments evaluated in the analysis?

The study compares a no-action scenario with adaptation investments to enhance resilience, and then assesses the potential benefits of different adaptation options to reduce climate change impacts.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Hazel