Wonder how much of a read this will get in DC? A lot, right - because it deals with $$$.
Download GAO_Climate_Change_Highlights
Why GAO Did This Study
Over the last decade, extreme weather and fire events have cost the federal government over $350 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. These costs will likely rise as the climate changes, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In February 2013, GAO included Limiting the Federal Government’s Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks on its High-Risk List.
GAO was asked to review the potential economic effects of climate change and risks to the federal government. This report examines (1) methods used to estimate the potential economic effects of climate change in the United States, (2) what is known about these effects, and (3) the extent to which information about these effects could inform efforts to manage climate risks across the federal government. GAO reviewed 2 national-scale studies available and 28 other studies; interviewed 26 experts knowledgeable about the strengths and limitations of the studies; compared federal efforts to manage climate risks with leading practices for risk management and economic analysis; and obtained expert views.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that the appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President (EOP), including the Office of Science and Technology Policy, use information on potential economic effects to help identify significant climate risks and craft appropriate federal responses. EOP entities and the Environmental Protection Agency did not provide official comments on the report.
What GAO Found
Methods used to estimate the potential economic effects of climate change in the United States—using linked climate science and economics models—are based on developing research. The methods and the studies that use them produce imprecise results because of modeling and other limitations but can convey insight into potential climate damages across sectors in the United States.
The two available national-scale studies that examine the economic effects of climate change across U.S. sectors suggested that potential economic effects could be significant and unevenly distributed across sectors and regions. For example, for 2020 through 2039, one study estimated between $4 billion and $6 billion in annual coastal property damages from sea level rise and more frequent and intense storms. Also, under this study, the Southeast likely faces greater effects than other regions because of coastal property damages (see figure).
Information about the potential economic effects of climate change could inform decision makers about significant potential damages in different U.S. sectors or regions. According to several experts and prior GAO work, this information could help federal decision makers identify significant climate risks as an initial step toward managing such risks. This is consistent with, for example, National Academies leading practices, which call for climate change risk management efforts that focus on where immediate attention is needed. The federal government has not undertaken strategic government-wide planning to manage climate risks by using information on the potential economic effects of climate
change to identify significant risks and craft appropriate federal responses. By using such information, the federal government could take an initial step in establishing government-wide priorities to manage such risks.
Thanks to Tim Smith for bringing this to my attention. Enjoy!
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” - N. D. Walsch
Indeed the report emphasizes fiscal issues...and is based on meta-analysis of two reports that were generated during the obama era and were most definitely politically driven to hype "global warming" and its impacts so that the political agenda could be further imposed.
But....the human factor must be considered. For example, the following two news articles that will be in the Coastal Zone Mgmt Bulletin Board for next week highlight the problem and cause of escalating costs:
Businesses, coastal governments and beachfront property owners urge State of South Carolina to delay imposing new beach-building restriction line
• http://www.postandcourier.com/news/hundreds-of-s-c-coastal-property-owners-call-for-delay/article_4fe191b6-b9a7-11e7-9928-a3a27029990d.html
Berkeley professor offers theories on how to adapt to rising coastal sea levels and groundwater: dig ponds and build levees called “superdikes”!
• https://phys.org/news/2017-10-video-coastal-cities-sea.html
With increasing population in areas that are vulnerable to storms, even during weather cycles were intense storms decrease in number, then costs will increase almost exponentially. And the human expectation is that the government will bail them out, despite the fact that fewer people are buying flood insurance along the Gulf and East Coast areas.
The wisdom of Gilbert White comes to mind, paraphrasing: Natural hazards are acts of God, Natural disasters are acts of man.
Posted by: EJ Hanford | Thursday, 26 October 2017 at 06:58 AM
Climate change is an unmitigated fraud that would make even Jay Lehr blush. I wonder when hydroligists will come clean.
Posted by: Mike wallace | Wednesday, 25 October 2017 at 06:18 PM