Assessing costs of climate change

Estimating costs of climate change

Implementation

A commercial research centre in the UK released a report in 1998 suggesting that changing climate patterns are causing more frequent and fierce natural disasters. One "reinsurance" firm compared the scale and cost of natural disasters in the 1960s with those of the late 1990s. The results show that natural catastrophes have tripled in number and are costing the industry fifteen times more than they did thirty years ago.

Counter-claim

There has been far too much talk of the burdens associated with meeting climate change targets and far too little about the opportunities. Warmer homes, better transport and more efficient companies are some of the benefits of adjusting to climate change. There are also be new jobs and new opportunites for companies in the emerging environmental technology market.