Costs of natural disasters set to increase with continued rise in CO2 and global temperature

Scientists have long predicted that global climate change could fuel an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters including hurricanes, heatwaves and cold snaps, droughts and floods and wildfires. In a paper published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health, members of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Fellowship in Disaster Medicine estimated that climate change–related natural disasters have increased since 1980 and have already cost the United States more than $2 trillion in recovery costs. Their analysis also suggests that as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the global temperature continue to rise, the frequency and severity of disasters will increase, with recovery costs potentially rising exponentially.

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