The report advocates for accelerated emissions reduction and embraces clean-energy initiatives
Extreme weather events now extract $150 billion annually from the US economy, a sharp escalation from past decades, per the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) that came out yesterday.
Releasing just in time for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, the quadrennial report reveals an alarming trend with climate-change-affected extreme weather events.
What does it say?
- Catastrophic environmental disasters, costing $1 billion in damages, occur every three weeks now in the US, compared to once in four months in the 1980s (adjusted for inflation).
- Coastal regions, home to 40% of the American population, face imminent threats from rising sea levels, putting millions of homeowners at risk of displacement by the end of the century.
- Ski resorts, farming lands and fisheries also find themselves entangled in the heightened choreography of climate risks.
As the earth gets warmer, scorching heat waves have doubled in big cities since the 1980s, leading to record-breaking temperatures and putting health at risk.
Silver lining
The report embraces clean-energy initiatives for creating jobs and further advocates emission reduction.
In response
The US Energy Department’s $3.9 billion grid upgrade and the EPA’s $2 billion for climate projects align with the report’s call for swift action.