The Cost Of Climate Change Has Arrived At Our Doorsteps
For over 40 years, I have worked to cut the air pollution that damages public health and accelerates climate change risk, but I hadn’t felt its personal cost. That changed when I recently learned that my California home insurance policy with the same insurer for more than three decades will not be renewed. And not only is replacing it virtually impossible, successfully finding alternative coverage will make my monthly bill two to three times higher. And I’m not alone.
Tens of thousands of California homeowners are facing similar issues, but it’s not just a California problem. Extreme weather is driving unprecedented levels of property damage nationally, leading insurance companies to flee markets across the country. In states like Louisiana, Florida, and parts of the Midwest and Southwest, residents cannot obtain insurance, or the premiums have become so prohibitive that they are forced to go without. More than 35 million properties – a quarter of U.S. real estate – face skyrocketing insurance prices and plummeting coverage due to climate change risks. Insurance companies have made it clear to regulators that extreme weather, fueled by climate change, is driving these changes.
This insurance crisis is a major shift from when I began my environmental work. Back then, the threats of climate change loomed somewhere far in the future – but that future threat has arrived. Today, every corner of the U.S. is feeling the impacts of climate change which strain or overwhelm the financial stability and health of millions of Americans.
Unfortunately, something has not changed in 40 years as the title of the recent joint staff report of the US Senate states: “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.”
2023 was the warmest on record in the U.S., with 28 extreme weather events causing a staggering $93 billion in damages. In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners' coverage in 18 states, over a third of the country. That risk compounds with time – the Office of Management and Budget predicts unabated climate change could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 trillion annually, with an additional $128 billion in annual federal costs to cover disaster risks, flood and crop insurance, and wildfire spending.
This financial burden doesn’t even account for the human suffering of people losing their homes. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 2.5 million Americans were displaced by weather disasters in 2023 alone. But, despite these growing costs and suffering, a stark partisan divide is evident: 85% of Democrats attributed extreme weather to climate change, compared to only 35% of Republicans. Similarly, 69% of Democrats prioritize climate change in elections, versus just 13% of Republicans.
The fact is that we know what’s causing extreme weather and climate change: Burning fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas. We have the technologies and policies at hand to transition off fossil fuels across our economy to protect people’s homes, businesses and lives from severe and catastrophic weather events. Yet, instead of pursuing these options urgently, politicians, including former president Trump, prefer to ignore what is fast approaching crisis proportions.
President Biden called climate change a “clear and present danger” and two years ago signed the Inflation Reduction Act, designed to drastically America’s reliance on fossil fuels by providing incentives for consumers and companies to choose clean energy technologies. The IRA is designed to accelerate the clean energy transition, including zero-emission vehicles and onshoring manufacturing of the clean energy technologies worth $1.8 trillion of investment in the global marketplace last year. The IRA narrowly passed, with every single Republican member of Congress voting against it.
Since then, the IRA has spurred more than $360 billion in investments in clean technology manufacturing and infrastructure, creating roughly 313,000 jobs for manufacturing electric vehicles, upgrading the fleet and equipment, producing electric vehicle batteries, as well as mining critical mineral and recycling. Most of the money and jobs are going to Republican districts. Despite the very real material gains the IRA has provided for their constituents, which many Republicans are taking credit for despite voting against the law, attacks on efforts to reign in climate change continue.
This extends to efforts to clean up our car and truck pollution. In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized new standards to reduce transportation sector emissions. The rule would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 7.2 billion metric tons through 2055 – more than half total transportation sector air pollution, which accounts for 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It will also significantly reduce nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions which harm our health by causing asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death.
Despite industry and Union of Auto Workers (UAW) support, including endorsements from major automakers, these standards face fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress, red states, and the oil industry. Republican attorneys general from 27 states have filed a lawsuit against the EPA to block the new clean car standards and the American Petroleum Institute joined them by filling a federal lawsuit against EPA’s efforts to curb emissions from cars and light trucks.
Biden’s climate change policies have become a political issue, rather than welcome policies that create jobs, generate investment, and clean our air. Former President Trump has promised to reverse many of the IRA and Biden’s climate policies if re-elected, including rolling back EPA clean car standards.
Severe weather and home insurance issues are just the tip of the iceberg of what the future holds unless our leaders, Democrats and Republicans, come together to address climate change. We need urgent action to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and to adopt resilience policies that protect not only people’s health and livelihoods, but increasingly our wallets. Without bipartisan cooperation and decisive measures to combat climate change and protect people from catastrophic weather events, extreme weather will continue to inflict greater financial and human costs.
Our leaders must come together to protect the people they represent and ensure a livable planet for our children, grandchildren, and future generations.
Source: Forbes
