IPCC WG2, 2007, chapter 7: Industry, settlement and society

This chapter of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report focus on ‘industry, settlement and society’. The topic is clearly very broad; many of the components of the chapter, such as industry and services, settlements, financial and social issues, are so heterogeneous that each could be the subject of a separate chapter. Very briefly, however, the chapter will summarise and assess the literature relevant to the impacts of climate change on the structure, functioning, and relationships of all of these components of human systems potentially affected by climate change, positively or negatively. The chapter (1) identifies current and potential vulnerabilities and positive or negative impacts of climate change on industrial, service and infrastructure sectors, human settlements and human societies; (2) assesses the current knowledge about the costs of possible impacts; and (3) considers possible adaptive responses. In general, it emphasises that climate-change impacts, adaptation potentials, and vulnerabilities are context-specific, related to the characteristics and development pathways of the location or sector involved.