Thursday, June 29, 2017

Climate Change Damages US Economy, Increases Inequality

Severe costs ahead especially in south and lower midwest, pioneering analysis projects.


County-level annual damages in the median scenario for the climate from 2080 to 2099 under a business-as-usual emissions trajectory. Negative damages indicate economic benefits. [Credit: Hsiang, Kopp, Jina, Rising, et al (2017)] Click to Enlarge.
Unmitigated climate change will make the United States poorer and more unequal, according to a new study published in the journal Science.  The poorest third of counties could sustain economic damages costing as much as 20 percent of their income if warming proceeds unabated.

States in the South and lower Midwest, which tend to be poor and hot already, will lose the most, with economic opportunity traveling northward and westward.  Colder and richer counties along the northern border and in the Rockies could benefit the most as health, agriculture and energy costs are projected to improve.

Overall, the study -- led by Solomon Hsiang of the University of California, Berkeley, Robert Kopp of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Amir Jina of the University of Chicago, and James Rising, also of UC Berkeley -- projects losses, economic restructuring and widening inequality.

"Unmitigated climate change will be very expensive for huge regions of the United States," said Hsiang, Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.  "If we continue on the current path, our analysis indicates it may result in the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in the country's history."

Read more at Climate Change Damages US Economy, Increases Inequality

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