October 17, 2007--Hidden costs of climate change: Major, Nationwide, uncounted (Environmental Network News)
The total economic cost of climate change in the United States will be major and nationwide in scope, but remains uncounted, unplanned for and largely hidden in public debate, says a new study from the University of Maryland. The report, The U.S. Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction, is the first to pull together and analyze the previous economic research on the subject, along with other relevant data, in order to develop a more complete estimate of costs. "Climate change will affect every American economically in significant, dramatic ways, and the longer it takes to respond, the greater the damage and the higher the costs," says lead researcher Matthias Ruth, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research and the Roy F. Weston Chair in Natural Economics. Climate change will affect all sectors of the national economy, especially agriculture, energy and transportation, says the report. It will also damage or stress essential infrastructures, many of them locally maintained, such as water supply and treatment. Climate change will also damage ecosystems. The specific effects, though, will vary by U.S. regions.
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