The Costs of Inaction
The growing costs of climate-fueled heat waves, extreme storms, droughts, and floods threaten America’s economy and the pocketbooks of families and workers. They’re especially costing families in low-income communities and communities of color, where climate change exacerbates existing economic and social challenges.
Inaction is costing us. Solving the climate crisis will reduce these costs.
Costs of Inaction
250,000
Additional Deaths Worldwide
Per Year 2030-2050[1]
-9.2%
Potential United States Gross Domestic Product Lost By 2048[2]
$95 Billion
2020 Damages From Climate & Weather Disasters in the US[3]
"For me, the saddest thing about these recurring natural disasters that are exacerbated by climate change, is that the communities that are the most affected—like mine—are often the communities that have already been hit the hardest by all of society’s other problems. […] You have communities that rely heavily on the farming industry just devastated by these storms, causing farmers, migrant workers and their families to lose income while the farms are underwater. And you have predominantly poor communities, black communities and housing projects that were built in the floodplains—because those were the only places they were allowed—that become completely submerged."
Watch Our Past Hearing On Climate Costs
12:00 PM Thursday April 15 2021This hearing explored the changes we are seeing in climate, the efforts underway to study those changes, and the economic risks and impacts the climate crisis poses to labor supply, human health, and the American economy. It also explored the disparate impacts of the climate crisis on low-income communities and communities of color.
