Mojib Latif warns climate inaction will bury humanity

Mojib Latif, a 71‑year‑old oceanographer and professor at the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, told an interview that failing to act on climate change will be far more costly than mitigation. He noted that the World Climate Panel now limits warming to a maximum of 3.5 °C, but warned that even this level would make survival difficult in many regions. Latif highlighted the risk of a super El Niño and a potential jet‑stream collapse, and listed economic damages such as fires, crop losses, destroyed infrastructure, tourism setbacks, reduced productivity and rising death tolls. He argued that claims that climate protection is too expensive are misleading, stating that “no climate protection is incredibly more expensive.” Latif, who also serves as president of the German Academy of Sciences and the German Club of Rome, recently published the book “Water – The Threatened Element.”