Estimation of the economic impact of temperature changes induced by a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation: an application of FUND

Key economic sectors affected are water resources and energy consumption, as well as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases among health impacts. The maximum national impact of a shutdown of the THC turns out to be of the magnitude of a few per cent of GDP, but the average global impact is much smaller. The results indicate that the temperature effect of a THC shutdown does not create an insurmountable economic threat on a global scale, but may cause severe damages to individual countries.

However, a consideration of other climatic impacts such as precipitation and sea level changes is likely to alter the identified trends in economic development.