(C) Common Dreams
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Climate change could cost U.S. $2 trillion each year by the end of the century, White House says [1]

['Emma Newburger']

Date: 2022-04-04

Dry cracked earth is visible in an area of Lake Powell that was previously underwater on March 28, 2022 in Page, Arizona. As severe drought grips parts of the Western United States, water levels at Lake Powell dropped to their lowest levels since the lake was created by damming the Colorado River in 1963.

Floods, drought, wildfires and hurricanes made worse by climate change could cost the U.S. federal budget about $2 trillion each year — a 7.1% loss in annual revenue — by the end of the century, the White House said in an assessment on Monday.

The analysis by the Office of Management and Budget, which administers the federal budget, also warned the U.S. government could spend an additional $25 billion to $128 billion each year in areas such as coastal disaster relief, flood insurance, crop insurance, health-care insurance, wildland fire suppression and flooding at federal facilities.

"The fiscal risk of climate change is immense," Candace Vahlsing, the OMB's associate director for climate, and Danny Yagan, its chief economist, wrote in a blog published on Monday.

"Climate change threatens communities and sectors across the country, including through floods, drought, extreme heat, wildfires, and hurricanes that affect the U.S. economy and the lives of everyday Americans," they wrote. "Future damages could dwarf current damages if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated."

The news comes the same day as the United Nations' climate science panel's highly anticipated report, which warned that slashing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels will require greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025.

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[1] Url: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/climate-change-could-cost-us-2-trillion-each-year-by-2100-omb.html

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