Climate change damages our natural environment, but also costs everyone on the planet money. These costs are finally getting politicians’ attention. The Union of Concerned Scientists studyTracing Tides documents how emissions from 122 fossil fuel companies and cement companies increased global temperatures and sea levels. Their report Decades of Deceit chronicled fossil fuel companies’ decades-long disinformation campaigns about the consequences of climate change.
Now we are seeing the impact. In CLIMATE NOMICS; Washington, Wall Street and the Economic Battle to SAVE OUR PLANET, Bob Keefe spells out the financial impacts worldwide of our ignoring the danger for so long. Between 2017 and 2021, climate-related weather disasters caused more than $742 billion in damage to the US economy including $145 billion in 2021 alone according to NOAA. In 2021, the average impact was $400 million per day, more than the cost of the war in Afghanistan. The cost in 2021 was two-and-a-half timeS the weather related cost in 2000, and it is still increasing. Weather related losses Could decrease the US GDP by 9 per cent by 2050. All of these costs increase the cost of insurance for everyone who buys insurance.