Bloomberg, Paulson and Steyer Release Bipartisan Report on Climate Change Risks to Midwest

On Friday, the three U.S. financial heavyweights behind the Risky Business Project -- an effort to quantify the financial risks posed by global climate change -- published the organization's latest report to help people identify, understand and plan for the economic risks related to steadily increasing temperatures worldwide.

The analysis, called Heat in the Heartland, is a granular look into the United States' Midwest and threats the region's cities and agricultural stakeholders will likely face due to unmitigated climate change and the continuation of present business and political practices.

The Midwest is home to 1 in 5 Americans and an outsized manufacturing sector that consumes 20 percent more energy per dollar of economic output than the national average, the report found.  The region is responsible for higher per-capita greenhouse gas emissions, too, emitting 22 percent more than the U.S. average.  In a county-by-county perspective, the study compiled results on heat-related deaths, increased electricity demand, climbing energy costs, dipping labor output, dwindling crop yields and damage to transportation infrastructure.

The investigation, which scrutinized data on 10 major urban areas in the Midwest -- from Detroit to Des Moines and Chicago to Cleveland -- found workers will generally be less efficient.

In the next five to 25 years, farmers in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana may lose 18 to 24 percent of their crops to punishing heat, according to the report, while warmer winters in the Upper Midwest will sap workers and income from the local winter tourism industry, which employs more than 35,000 in the region.

Productivity in St. Louis is forecast to decline 3.3 percent by 2100 within sectors particularly exposed to climate risk, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing and transportation. Iowa may be most at risk regarding labor, however, with about 40 percent of workers in the region tied to outdoor industries, largely transportation and farming.

Heat waves will kill in the Heartland's cities also:  in Kansas City crippling temperatures will most likely claim up to 24 additional lives per 100,000 citizens by the end of the century.  And under hotter conditions, which the FBI has linked strongly to jumps in violence, Midwestern police departments will have more aggressive suspects to pursue.

Read more at Bloomberg, Paulson and Steyer Release Bipartisan Report on Climate Change Risks to Midwest