It’s not just an environmental issue, and for the first time, researchers have calculated global warming’s potential economic impact on each county.
States and localities across the U.S. are already experiencing profound weather shifts associated with climate change, from rising sea levels and flooding to drought and dangerously hot summers. Economists have long been warning that these changes will come with a cost. But until now, there’s been no measure of what that cost might be for individual counties.
A study published in the journal Science in June is the most extensive model available of what climate change could cost the United States, county by county. (View an interactive map at the bottom of this article). The study is the first of its kind, linking climate projections with economic effects like mortality, labor productivity, energy demand and crop yields.
GOVERNING.COM
BY NATALIE DELGADILLO | AUGUST 23, 2017