GW Expert Available: Climate Change Costs the U.S. Roughly $150 Billion Each Year, New Report Finds

A new federal report released this week finds that extreme climate events cost the U.S. $150 billion each year, an estimate that doesn't account for loss of life, healthcare-related costs, and damages to ecosystem services. According to The Wall Street Journal, this is the first time the U.S. National Climate Assessment includes a separate chapter on the economic impacts associated with climate action. The report also finds extreme events disproportionately impact poor and disadvantaged communities. 

Jorge E. Rivera is a professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy and Tucker-Endowed Fellow at the George Washington University School of Business. Rivera’s research focuses on studying how external environment factors are associated with business sustainability management strategies. Over the last few years, he has been examining how nature’s adversity conditions affect corporate adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and how natural disasters and industrial accidents affect foreign investment location by multinational corporations. One of the key focuses of Rivera’s 2022 book, titled “Business Adaptation to Climate Change,” is on firms response to natural disasters exacerbated by climate change. His areas of expertise include business and public policy, environmental management, and environmental policy.