Population projections ignore toll of climate crisis

Reported projections of population size by 2050 (Spotlight, 18 November) are untenable because they ignore the scale of the climate crisis.

Given our apparent collective refusal to take the action required to rapidly reduce emissions (and noting the failure of Cop27 to make progress on this), large areas of India will become uninhabitable for those without air conditioning before 2050. The same applies to, for example, Pakistan and Nigeria where dramatic population increases are also predicted. Consequently, huge numbers of people can be expected to either die or migrate.

Andy J Green Professor of research, Doñana Biological Station, Seville, Spain