The costs of climate change are highly uncertain, but represent a significant risk to the public finances in all the scenarios explored by the UK’s Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR). These costs come from both transitioning the economy to net zero emissions, and from damage to the economy caused by climate change. However, the latter is the more significant fiscal cost in the scenarios the OBR presents.
Tag: impacts
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Planning for climate; planning for security
Severe climate impacts can come from nowhere. Their effects can cascade across society, and create a bigger problem than the sum of their individual parts. These impacts are similar to those resulting from pandemics or traditional security threats. That is why we need to plan for climate like we plan for security – at the national level, supranational level and across continents.
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CCC: the UK is not prepared for climate impacts
Climate change is making extreme weather in the UK more likely and more extreme. This looks like heatwaves, heavy rainfall and conditions that enable wildfires. The UK is not appropriately prepared for this.