Key risks due to future climate change, exposure and vulnerability are difficult to assess and are based on evidence from the past and likely future vulnerabilities and livelihood challenges. The assessment of Representative Key Risks  underscores that risks to living standards are potentially severe as measured by the magnitude of impacts in comparison to historical events or as inferred from the number of people currently vulnerable . Table 8.4 provides an overview of what is known in the literature assessed about future risks, inequalities and particularly future vulnerabilities, including potential challenges for climate justice and adaptation barriers. For example, barriers for gender, ethnicity and class have been addressed for a long time yet need substantive intervention. Gender, along with many other structural inequalities  that are deeply rooted, pose future threats to people and groups in vulnerable situations from, for example, the loss of land or assets, exposure to extreme events and so on. These people will also likely be highly exposed to future climate risks unless there are significant and new avenues for action on climate change now. For example, recent studies suggest that the total population of all countries classified
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report