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A new report says that global warming could cost the Californian economy billions of dollars each year, through a combination of rising sea levels, and the increased frequency of wild fires and extreme weather events.

The comprehensive study (PDF), published by researcher’s at UC Berkeley, also claims that $2.5 trillion of Californian real estate assets are at risk. The clear message, says co-author Prof. David Roland-Holst, is the strong economic case for timely action to slash carbon emissions and adapt to the already unavoidable effects of climate change.

“Our report makes clear the most expensive thing we can do about climate change is nothing,” he said. “As we learned in New Orleans, turning your back on the threat of natural disaster doesn’t make it go away.”

In detail, the report found that the insurance and real estate sectors could face damages totalling between $300m and $3.9bn per year. Assets across a number of other sectors are also particularly at risk, including:

$21bn of energy sector assets;

$500bn of transport sector assets

$113bn of agricultural assets

$5bn of water industry assets; and,

$98bn of tourism assets.

In US, and particularly global terms, California is already fairly forward-looking in terms of its response to the challenges posed by global warming. We can only hope that the publication of this report, from one of the world’s most respected academic institutions, is likely to further galvanize opinion and spur the state into even more radical action.

Image Credit – cnynfreelancer via flickr.com on a Creative Commons license