2062 STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

To feed a hungry population of 9 billion people, the total production of grains, meat, vegetables, and dairy products has increased 70 percent in the past 50 years. Consumption of water for agriculture—which constitutes more than 90 percent of global water use—has increased 19 percent. Despite that long record of success, agricultural production is stressed by floods, deforestation, drought, urbanization (land-devouring cities), and a growing appetite for resource-intensive meat. More than 
4 billion people live in areas at risk of water shortages. The map below illustrates the top threats to agricultural production.

Clean Energy in Charge
  Energy sources that generate the world’s electricity*

Nuclear 24%
Hydropower 14%
Coal + Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) 12%
Solar 12%
Wind 12%
Natural gas 11%
Biomass waste 5%
Natural gas + CCS 5%
Geothermal 3%
Biomass + CCS 1%
Oil 1%
Coal 1%

Top 5 
Renewable 
Energy 
Generation, 
by World 
Region*


1. Latin America: 87%

2. Africa: 81% 

3. Europe: 55%

4. Middle East: 49%

5. United States: 45%

* From a best-case scenario 
prepared by the International Energy Agency, a 
nonprofit research group whose members hail from 28 
countries. Under this 
scenario, carbon emissions are cut 50 percent 
from 2012 levels.

Going Under

More than 150 million people worldwide are at risk from rising sea levels and extreme storms that cause coastal flooding. Overall, sea level is some 35 centimeters (14 inches) higher than it was in 2012. The most vulnerable major cities include Mumbai, India; Guangzhou, China; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. United States cities at risk include Miami, New York, and New Orleans. Globally, flooding due to climate change threatens to exact a $35 trillion economic toll by the 2070s.

High Cost of Meat

With rising incomes, meat consumption has increased 73 percent over the past 50 years. But a beefy diet exacts an environmental toll: Cows consume vastly more water and produce far more greenhouse gases than crop foods.

Cubic meters of water (264 gallons) 
consumed to produce one ton of food:
Vegetables: 300
Nuts: 9,000
Beef: 15,400

Global meat consumption in 2012: 270 million tons
Global meat consumption in 2062: 470 million tons
Proportion of global greenhouse gases produced by meat production (2062): 70%

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Technology  proved crucial for controlling greenhouse-gas 
emissions starting in the 2020s. Installed at plants that produce iron, steel, pulp, paper, 
chemicals, and cement, CCS collects carbon gas, concentrates it, and pumps it underground 
for permanent storage in natural geologic formations. Despite many early fears, 
very little CO2 has leaked out from those storehouses.

Global Footprint  is the size of human impact on Earth’s natural resources. In the past 50 years, thanks to education and technology, more than 2 billion people joined the middle class, swelling the human footprint nearly 50 percent. At the same time, millions of acres of cropland have been devoured by population growth and by persistent drought in China and India. But improvements in agriculture have opened up millions of acres of flourishing new cropland in Africa and Brazil.

Next Page: New World Dynamos

NEW WORLD DYNAMOS

China and the United States still have not been dethroned, but much of the world’s economic might now resides with Brazil, India, Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey. Their rise in status has been driven by young labor forces, investments in education and technology, and thriving middle classes with money to burn. Per capita income in those nations has skyrocketed, raising the standard of living to unprecedented heights but creating ravenous new 
demand for energy and natural resources.

Profile: Turkey  Beacon of the Middle East

Per Capita Income
2005: $7,920

2062: $53,560

Gross Domestic Product

2009: $509 billion
2062: $5.93 trillion
Annual GDP 
Growth Rate
2009-2062: 4.4%

Full admittance into the European Union four decades ago solidified Turkey’s position as an economic powerhouse and global player, making it a beacon of modernization for the Middle East. Today this Muslim 

nation holds the same vital economic role it once did for hundreds of years as the seat of the Ottoman Empire.

Capitalizing on its location on the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, Turkey continues to benefit from a huge influx of foreign investments. It is a transportation hub for oil and gas from neighboring Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Iraq, as well as a crucial launching pad for the construction industry throughout Russia, Asia, and Africa. Turkey has also emerged as a leading shipbuilder and a major manufacturer and distributor of heavy consumer goods, including automobiles, home appliances, and refrigerators. Over the past half century, the nation’s capital, Ankara, has transformed from a sleepy provincial town into a cosmopolitan city, while Istanbul, long a sophisticated tourist mecca and industrial center, has grown into a megacity of 20 million situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

Shaking off the political convulsions of the late 2010s and 2020s, Turkey made smart investments in education. Its cohort of young, educated workers grew by nearly 20 percent in the first three decades of the 21st century, delivering a demographic dividend that continues to stoke economic engines.

What they were saying 50 years ago…
  “A substantial number of people over 65 in Japan, 
the United States, and Europe will go abroad to 
work because that’s where their skills will still be 
valued and in demand, and their retirement 
money will go further. Property developers in 
Mexico and Tunisia, like those in Florida 
and Arizona, are beginning to create turnkey 
retirement communities for expatriates.” 
—Jack A. Goldstone, director, Center for Global 
Policy, George Mason University

Next Page: Surge of the Cities

SURGE OF THE CITIES

The exodus from rural areas, where agriculture is now primarily automated, to cities, where opportunities abound, has 
continued unabated for decades. Today more than 6 billion people live in cities—about 70 percent of the world’s population, roughly double the proportion of a half century ago. The urban shift is especially pronounced in the East, where Beijing, Manila, and Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) have nearly tripled their populations since 2012. Meanwhile, cities in impoverished regions, such as Lagos, Karachi, and Mumbai, are bursting at the seams, putting clean water, sanitation, policing, 
electricity, and health care in short supply.



Profile: Nigeria 
 Chaos nation

Population 

2012: 158,423,000


2062: 462,103,000


Fertility Rate


2012: 5.43


2062: 2.87


Life Expectancy 

2012: 52.5


2062: 69


Infant 
Mortality Rate


2012: 87.6


2062: 29.0

Sitting on tremendous oil and natural gas reserves, Nigeria ranks among the top fossil fuel producers on the globe. But after decades of halting political progress, its democracy remains fragile. Behind the scenes, Nigeria continues to be dominated by oil-rich despots and military strongmen. The nation still feels the effects of the collapse of fishing and farming in its northern regions due to climate change in the 2030s and 2040s, which raised 




food prices and displaced millions, sending them fleeing into cities in search of better wages.

In Lagos, a sprawling city of 39 million, ostentatious mansions sit next to teeming slums. The dilapidated roads are congested, and refuse collection is sporadic at best. A lack of adequate sanitation and health care has led to recurring epidemics of cholera, malaria, typhoid fever, hepatitis, yellow fever, and aids.
A high birthrate has translated into a 
population of more than 400 million people, half of whom are under the age of 24. Unemployment and civil unrest are rife, fueled by lack of access to education, persistent poverty, and long-simmering religious tensions between northern Muslims and the relatively affluent southern Christian majority. Robberies, assaults, extortion, and murder are facts of life. Piracy off the coast of Nigeria is rampant as smugglers transport heroin, electronic devices, 

and electronic waste from Southeast Asia.


But there are bright spots. Over the past 50 years, life expectancy has climbed, the infant mortality rate has dropped by 67 percent, and a once overwhelming fertility rate is coming under control. The exploding population has stoked the economy and created a relatively large, politically influential middle class, which has contributed to a recent improvement in political stability.

Infant mortality rate refers to how many infants die per 1,000 born. 
It is a critical indication of a nation’s overall health. In 2062 Afghanistan has among the 
worst rates (51), while Singapore ranks among the best (2). The United States’ rate is 4. Admirably, 
in the past 50 years the world’s average infant mortality rate has fallen from 42 to 18.

What they were saying 
50 years ago…
  “Nigeria is going to become 
the place in Africa. The rising middle class has an interest 
in a stable investment 
environment and will put 
pressure on the government 
to get its act together and 
enforce anticorruption measures.”
 —Jennifer Cooke, director, 
Africa Program at the 
Center for Strategic & 
International Studies

METRO AREA POPULATION

2062 


1. Delhi (52.9 million)

2. Mumbai (42.7 million)

3. Lagos (39.0 million)

4. Dhaka (36.6 million)

5. Tokyo (34.6 million)

2012

1. Tokyo (37.2 million)

2. Delhi (22.7 million)

3. Mexico City (20.5 million)

4. New York City 
(20.4 million)

5. Shanghai (20.2 million)

Next Page: Arctic Powerhouses

ARCTIC POWERHOUSES

A warming climate largely eliminated summertime sea ice along the Arctic coasts, exposing vast fossil fuel reserves. The Arctic may hold 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas resources. Canada, 
Russia, Greenland, Norway, and the United States have all prospered. Canada and Norway are among the world’s five fastest-growing nations (alongside Iceland, India, and the United States). Although mounting worldwide energy 
demand continues to stress the environment, it has powered large-scale development of renewable energy.

Profile: Canada  Melting ice, liquid riches

It’s hard to remember that Canada’s vast Arctic regions were largely uninhabitable 50 years ago. Melting ice has liberated immense oil and natural gas reserves. Tankers and container ships move freely through shipping lanes—once treacherous with ice—between Europe and the Far East. The energy bonanza has spawned Wild West–style boomtowns in the Arctic Circle. The city of Churchill and deepwater ports accommodate ship traffic in agricultural and trade goods, while the Bathurst Inlet serves the diamond mines in the Northwest Territories.

The once sparsely populated Nunavut Territory, controlled by the native Inuit people, has undergone rapid economic and population growth. The infusion of petrodollars has trans-


formed the previously impoverished Inuits into North American sheikhs.

Although 25 percent of Canada’s population—roughly 10 million people—is over the age of 60, the population has increased 30 percent in the past 50 years due to an influx of immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The country presciently established guest-worker programs and recruited heavily among the 
millions of refugees 
displaced by 
drought and 
heat waves in 
sub-Saharan 
Africa and Asia 
to fill jobs on the new frontier.

What They Were Saying 50 Years Ago…  
“Canada is a country that has a sound immigration policy, 
dignity for aboriginal people, good democratic 
institutions, and a liberal trade policy codified into law. 
It is well-positioned in a world where globalized 
business is the norm.” —Laurence C. Smith, 
author, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping 
Civilization’s Northern Future