Climate change-related floods, fires, and droughts could eat into the US government budget by the end of the century, according to the White House, which released its first-ever study on Sunday.
President Joe Biden charged the Office of Management and Fiscal with assessing the budget impact of climate change by the end of the century, and determined that the upper range of the budget impact by the end of the century may reach 7.1 percent annual revenue loss, or $2 trillion in today's currency.
"Climate change threatens communities and sectors across the country, including through floods, drought, extreme heat, wildfires, and hurricanes (affecting) the U.S. economy and the lives of everyday Americans," Candace Vahlsing, an OMB climate and science official, and its chief economist Danny Yagan, said in a blog seen by Reuters ahead of publication on Monday. "Future damages could dwarf current damages if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated."
Coastal disaster relief, flood, crop, and healthcare insurance, wildfire suppression, and flooding at federal sites, according to the report, may cost the federal government an additional $25 billion to $128 billion each year.
Last year, a record heat wave and drought in the United Nations West sparked two enormous wildfires in California and Oregon, which were among the most destructive in the states' histories.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the extreme drought that has seized areas of the United States West since mid-2020 is projected to persist or intensify this spring.
Floods and hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damage to US military stations in recent years, including Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, more wildfires could increase federal fire control expenses by $1.55 billion to $9.6 billion per year. As sea levels rise, approximately 12,200 federal buildings and infrastructure might be swamped, costing about $44 billion to replace.
Global temperatures are on track to climb more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) beyond pre-industrial levels by the end of the century unless policies and efforts to curb the rate of greenhouse gas emissions are implemented.
The bleak OMB assessment came just hours before the release of a long-awaited United Nations climate science panel report on emission-reduction methods, a report that some scientists believe may downplay certain potentially catastrophic scenarios due to its consensual nature, which required 195 countries to sign off on.
As Russia's war on Ukraine drives up energy prices, Biden, a Democrat who campaigned as a champion for combating climate change when he entered office in January 2021, has been obliged to endorse increased domestic oil drilling and liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
Republicans and West Virginia's conservative Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, the creator and partly owner of a private coal company, have stalled the president's "Build Back Better" package, which featured hundreds of billions of dollars in funds to battle climate change and boost clean energy.
Biden submitted a $5.8 trillion budget plan to Congress late last month, with a focus on deficit reduction, in an apparent appeal to Manchin, who has stated he will not support for the package because it will exacerbate deficits. In fiscal year 2023, Biden's budget plan calls for about $45 billion to combat climate change, an increase of nearly 60 per cent over fiscal year 2021.
(Source:www.reutrs.com)
President Joe Biden charged the Office of Management and Fiscal with assessing the budget impact of climate change by the end of the century, and determined that the upper range of the budget impact by the end of the century may reach 7.1 percent annual revenue loss, or $2 trillion in today's currency.
"Climate change threatens communities and sectors across the country, including through floods, drought, extreme heat, wildfires, and hurricanes (affecting) the U.S. economy and the lives of everyday Americans," Candace Vahlsing, an OMB climate and science official, and its chief economist Danny Yagan, said in a blog seen by Reuters ahead of publication on Monday. "Future damages could dwarf current damages if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated."
Coastal disaster relief, flood, crop, and healthcare insurance, wildfire suppression, and flooding at federal sites, according to the report, may cost the federal government an additional $25 billion to $128 billion each year.
Last year, a record heat wave and drought in the United Nations West sparked two enormous wildfires in California and Oregon, which were among the most destructive in the states' histories.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the extreme drought that has seized areas of the United States West since mid-2020 is projected to persist or intensify this spring.
Floods and hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damage to US military stations in recent years, including Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, more wildfires could increase federal fire control expenses by $1.55 billion to $9.6 billion per year. As sea levels rise, approximately 12,200 federal buildings and infrastructure might be swamped, costing about $44 billion to replace.
Global temperatures are on track to climb more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) beyond pre-industrial levels by the end of the century unless policies and efforts to curb the rate of greenhouse gas emissions are implemented.
The bleak OMB assessment came just hours before the release of a long-awaited United Nations climate science panel report on emission-reduction methods, a report that some scientists believe may downplay certain potentially catastrophic scenarios due to its consensual nature, which required 195 countries to sign off on.
As Russia's war on Ukraine drives up energy prices, Biden, a Democrat who campaigned as a champion for combating climate change when he entered office in January 2021, has been obliged to endorse increased domestic oil drilling and liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
Republicans and West Virginia's conservative Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, the creator and partly owner of a private coal company, have stalled the president's "Build Back Better" package, which featured hundreds of billions of dollars in funds to battle climate change and boost clean energy.
Biden submitted a $5.8 trillion budget plan to Congress late last month, with a focus on deficit reduction, in an apparent appeal to Manchin, who has stated he will not support for the package because it will exacerbate deficits. In fiscal year 2023, Biden's budget plan calls for about $45 billion to combat climate change, an increase of nearly 60 per cent over fiscal year 2021.
(Source:www.reutrs.com)
