‘Hidden costs’ of climate emergency are worsening California’s affordability crisis – report | California

The climate emergency considerably increases costs for Californian households in the form of an increase in public service bills, loss of salary and an increase in health spending, aggravating the state’s affordability crisis, according to a new report.

The average American born in 2024 will probably have to face $ 500,000 in additional lifestyles due to the climate crisis, and those who know more serious effects will see up to $ 1 million in costs, climate change costs: financial and economic impacts on the California reports.

The analysis of the Center for Law, Energy & Environment at the University of California in Berkeley, commanded by the environment and the non -profit economy next 10, is examining for the first time more than 100 primary sources to provide a more in -depth look at what researchers describe as the “hidden costs” of the climate crisis in California.

“Climate change increases the cost of living in a way that we may not know,” said F Noel Perry, the next founder. “Agricultural workers from the central valley who lose work because of drought or heat [to] Patients do not receive medical care due to extreme weather conditions, increasing home insurance. »»

California has long been one of the country’s most expensive states with its high cost of living and expensive housing. Meanwhile, a recent report has revealed that since the decline in the Pandemic era policies, California has developed the highest poverty rate in the United States, alongside Louisiana.

The state also had to struggle with increasingly extreme weather conditions fueled by climate change of devastating and fatal forest fires, year after year, which move entire communities and spread smoke in the region with exhausting thermal waves and intense winter storms. In January, forest fires crossed the communities of Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, killing 31 people and destroying more than 18,000 structures.

People often perceive climate change as a set of future costs, but the consequences already have an impact on people unexpectedly, in particular inflation, food prices and availability, and insurance, said Ken Alex, with the Center for Law, Energy and Environment of the UC Berkeley.

“We really wanted to take a closer look at costs for individuals [and] to companies, “said Alex.” These are immediate costs that affect people in their current lives. “”

“It is not a future set of abstract numbers. It’s real and it’s immediate,” he added.

The report highlights the large -scale impacts of the forest fires in January, among others, which resulted in $ 4.6 billion in GDP losses and nearly $ 300 million in lost wages and businesses, eliminating generations of family wealth. Between 2017 and 2021, there were about 60 billion dollars in income loss through the state due to forest fires, according to a report by the Moore foundation quoted in the analysis.

The Californians are confronted with arrow electricity bills at the same time, and the costs related to forest fires represent up to 13% of recent increases, the report said. Extreme heat further increases electricity costs every day, as when temperatures reach 95F, electricity costs increased by 1.6%.

Smoke exposure associated with forest fires in southern California costs around $ 84.42 per person per day, according to a 2012 study in the report. The unhealthy air caused by fires already affects outdoor workers and by 2050, they should see loss of future benefits of up to $ 55.4 billion due to the climate. In 2018, forest smoke resulted in about $ 7.8 billion in health costs in the San Francisco Bay region.

Tackling the climate crisis costs money, said Alex, but there are massive costs so as not to act.

“Acting on things like climate change through technology reduces costs rather than increasing it, and if we continue not to act, it is in fact more impacting from the point of view of costs.”

The authors of the report hope to carry out additional research to reveal additional costs, said Alex, and would like to see the question become a point of discussion in the race of the next governor and beyond.

“We cannot resolve the affordability crisis in California without also resolving the climate crisis,” said Perry.