May 23
Failing to address climate change could cost the U.S. economy between
$1.9 trillion and $3.8 trillion annually by 2100, according to a report
released May 22 by an environmental advocacy group.
The report prepared by researchers at Tufts University, in Medford, Mass.,
and commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council examined two ways
of estimating the costs of inaction on climate change.
A comprehensive estimate, based on computer modeling, found that doing
nothing on global warming would cost the U.S. economy more than 3.6 percent
of GDP, or $3.8 trillion annually by 2100.
Meanwhile, a detailed analysis that looked only at four categories of global
warming impacts -- hurricane damage, real estate losses, increased energy
costs and water costs -- would add up to a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S.
GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually 2100.
All of the cost estimates are in today´s dollars.
The higher estimate includes calculations that don´t fall into the above
categories, such as impacts on agriculture and human health.
"The longer we wait, the more painful and expensive the consequences will
be," said Dan Lashof, director of NRDC’s Climate Center. "This report´s
findings are undeniable – we must act now."
In the future, global warming will cause drastic changes to the planet’s
climate, with average temperature increases of 13 degrees Fahrenheit in most
of the United States and 18 degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska over the next 100
years, according to the NRDC.
Costs and damages for the four detailed categories cited in the report if
global warming were left unchecked were estimated at: hurricane damages,
$422 billion; real estate losses: $360 billion; increased energy costs: $141
billion; and water costs: $950 billion.
"Some important impacts are priceless, so the real situation is worse than
the numbers can convey," said the report’s lead author, Frank Ackerman. "But
the numbers, for those impacts we can put prices on, are bad enough. Climate
change is on a collision course with the U.S. economy, long before the end
of the century unless we act now."
The full report is available online at
www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/cost/contents.asp .
Contact Waste News reporter Bruce Geiselman at (330) 865-6172 or
bgeiselman@crain.com
To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.wastenews.com