“Climate does not produce a single class of “climate refugees”. It alters hazards and livelihoods within migration systems shaped by income, networks, borders, land tenure, conflict and policy. Most observed climate-related movement is internal and often temporary. Sea-level rise can drive durable relocation, while drought and heat may either increase migration or reduce it by destroying the resources required to move. The poorest can become trapped in high-risk places. Population projections in SSPs are assumptions used to explore futures, not estimates of deaths or displacement caused by climate alone.” Open AI, ChatGPT (2026)
The most vulnerable are indiginous communities, estimates suggest that climate change and natural disasters could displace up to 1.2 billion people by 2050.