According to a latest report released on Tuesday by a coalition of financial leaders that include three Treasury secretaries, climate change could poses profound risks to the United States economy and the experts have said that the issue needs to be addressed immediately to avoid drastic conclusions in the future.
Two of the most severe impacts, sea level rise and extreme heat, have been said to likely cost billions of dollars in annual property loss, threaten human health, lower labor productivity and endanger the nations electricity grids, according to the report by the Risky Business Project.
“The good news: If we act immediately we can avert the worse outcomes,” Paulson said, adding U.S. businesses need to unite and lead the push for national change. “We need to take out an insurance policy. It’s that simple.”
“We cannot afford to waste another minute,” said Michael Bloomberg, GOP mayor of New York City from 2002 through 2013. He said rising sea levels will make storms like Sandy, which devastated his city and parts of New Jersey in 2012, worse. “We have to plan for risks,” he said. “Climate is one of them.”
Paulson and Bloomberg, along with billionaire former hedge fund executive and Democrat Thomas Steyer, led the project that produced the report, compiled by climate scientists and the economic research firm Rhodium Group. Their committee also includes George Shultz, Treasury secretary for President Richard Nixon, and Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary for President Bill Clinton.
While the report does not advocate specific policies, the three former Treasury secretaries all back a carbon tax that would put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Their report comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, earlier this month, proposed a 30% cut in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030.