A general view shows people walking across the flooded St. Mark’s Square, by St. Mark’s Basilica on November 15, 2019 in Venice, two days after the city suffered its highest tide in 50 years. Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images Coastal flooding made worse by climate change could damage assets worth up to $14.2 trillion by 2100 as rising seas inundate coastal homes and infrastructure, according to new research published on Thursday in Scientific Reports. Without worldwide investment in flood defenses or a decrease in global emissions, the outlook is stark: Within the century, the land area flooded will increase by 48% (roughly the size of France), the population impacted will increase by 52% (about 287 million people) and the infrastructure affected will increase by 46%, which will comprise about 20% of global GDP, researchers warned. “We are attempting to understand the magnitude of the global scale impacts […]