Economics of climate change and risk of disasters in Asia–Pacific region

Asia–Pacific region is one of the most dynamic regions in the world. During the latest three decades, the economic progress of nations in this region has been remarkable, which is characterized by rapid growth in economic prosperity, especially East Asia countries. However, the current huge amount and unsustainable energy consumption as well as rapid increase in carbon emission and pollutant emission in Asia–Pacific region has already constrained the continuous development of some nations. Furthermore, global climate change also begun to threaten the prospect of prosperity in East Asia countries and other emerging nations. The characteristics of geography, population density, distribution of industry and natural resource make this region one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and related natural hazards. Researches on development economics, energy economics as well as economics of climate change and natural hazards covering Asia–Pacific region—such as assessment of climate change and natural hazard impacts, evaluation of adaptation and mitigation strategies and policies, modeling energy conservation and carbon emission reduction scenarios, and analyzing the relationship among economic growth, energy and resources consumption, carbon and pollutants emissions, national welfare and social progress—are very important and obviously useful in climate change adaptation and mitigation planning. Therefore, this special issue aims to promote and publish researches on economics of climate change and risk of disasters in Asia–Pacific region and around the world for a better understanding of existing knowledge and research gaps. In this special issue, we collected 23 contributions which showed variety of research topics of interest in economics of climate change and risk of disasters in Asia–Pacific region.