U.S. Report Forecasts $100s Of Billions In Climate Change Costs

"Crop insurance, disaster relief spending expected to skyrocket

Without “ambitious action” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the long-term effects of climate change may cost the U.S. government and American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per year, a federal report released earlier this month has found.

The report — jointly published by the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers — used different global change models to forecast the fiscal consequences of climate change. While the report acknowledged there are still too many unknowns to fully understand climate change’s impact, it predicted that crop insurance, healthcare, wildfire suppression and disaster relief programs will likely see sharp spending increases.

Federal spending in those four areas could increase by as much as $112 billion per year toward the later part of this century, the report found."

Robert Holly reports for Investigate Midwest November 29, 2016.