Climate Disasters Threaten to Widen U.S. Wealth Gap
Climate change is expected to exacerbate social inequality in the United States and put millions of people at risk of severe financial distress, according to a new report from the Treasury Department.
The findings, released Friday, focused on two sets of data.
Using county-level climate projections through 2045, the Treasury Department determined that about half of all U.S. counties face “elevated exposure” to one or multiple climate hazards including wildfire, extreme heat and flooding.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”