Climate change impacts are already costing the federal government billions, and these costs are expected to increase, according to a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
While this may not be news to scientists and environmentalists, the federal watchdog’s report serves as an indictment of the Trump administration’s slow and limited response to the looming threats from climate change, with the expressed goal of helping government guide efforts to improve its response and save money by limiting future damage.
“Over the last decade, extreme weather and fire events have cost the federal government over $350 billion”—excluding recent hurricanes and wildfires—and “these costs will likely rise as the climate changes,” the GAO report (pdf) notes, citing data from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
“Our past work and the work of others have reported that climate change impacts and their economic effects have already cost the federal government money and pose future risks that could lead to increased federal fiscal exposure,” the report continues, outlining conclusions from past publications prompted partly by the government spending billions of dollars on disaster relief.
In an apparent challenge to President Donald Trump’s well documented climate change denialism and his administration’s willingness to cater to demands from industries that are largely responsible for U.S. emissions, the summary of past reports is followed by a clear reprimand for current lack of planning coupled with a call to action:
Among the report’s most notable findings is that “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.”
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