Title: Climate Change is Costly--What can the Federal Government Do to
Reduce Its Exposure?

Description: The effects of climate change have cost the federal
government and taxpayers billions of dollars. These costs will likely
increase in the future, even if actions are taken to address climate
change. What should the federal government be doing to reduce its
financial exposure to climate change costs? And what can Congress do to
help ensure federal efforts are effective in addressing these risks?
We'll find out more from GAO's Alfredo Gomez.

Related work: GAO-24-106937, Climate Resilience: Congressional Action
Needed to Enhance Climate Economics Information and to Limit Federal
Fiscal Exposure

Released: September 2024

{Music}

[Alfredo Gomez:] Expenditures on infrastructure, disaster relief, health
care, and public insurance are expected to increase with climate change.

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi, and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for
fact-based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. The effects of
climate change have cost the federal government and taxpayers billions
of dollars. These costs will likely increase in the future, even if
actions are taken to address climate change. What should the federal
government be doing to reduce its financial exposure to climate change
costs? And what can Congress do to help ensure federal efforts are
effective in addressing these risks? We'll find out more from GAO's
Alfredo Gomez, an expert on climate and environmental issues, who has a
new report out today answering these questions. Thanks for joining us.

[Alfredo Gomez:] Thank you for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] So, Alfredo, when we say that climate change has cost the
federal government billions of dollars, what do we mean by that?

[Alfredo Gomez:] You know, while there's no single estimate for the
climate change cost to the federal government, we do know from some
economy-wide information what the costs are. So, for example, the
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration reported that in 2023, the
U.S. experienced 28 climate related events and natural disasters, which
each cost over $1 billion. So combined, these 28 events resulted in a
cost of over $94 billion and 492 deaths.

[Holly Hobbs:] And it's not just the cost of helping communities recover
from natural disasters, right? The federal government has its own costs? 

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yes. So, the federal government in general, right, has
a lot of infrastructure across the country, a lot of defense facilities,
NASA facilities, and other infrastructure. And some of these facilities,
as we know, are located in coastal areas, areas that are affected by sea
level rise, by floods, by intense weather events. So, they're at risk.
And we need to better understand those risks.

[Holly Hobbs:] We think that climate change is going to cost the
government even more over time in the future. How do we know that?

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yes, we know from experts that these climate related
events and natural disasters are going to become more intense and
frequent. Also, there's some amount of change that is already locked in.
What I mean by that is that greenhouse gas emissions that are already in
the atmosphere are going to continue causing climate change. And we know
from the most recent national climate assessment that the costs to the
federal government are significant and growing. For example,
expenditures on infrastructure, disaster relief, health care, and public
insurance are expected to increase with climate change.

[Holly Hobbs:] So one of the things we found in our report was that
there is information estimating the costs, but it's not great
information. It's not great data. Is the government doing anything to
get better data?

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yeah, so we did find in our report that federal
agencies have limited capacity to develop and use climate economics
information. You know, climate information is an evolving science. And
while the results are imprecise, they do provide us useful insights in
terms of where the climate change risks are so that we can begin to
focus on those risks and prepare for them. The government is taking
steps to provide them with that information, but these are limited
steps. And this is why we've recommended that Congress authorize the
federal government to create more consistent climate economics
information for decision makers at all levels of government, including
also the private sector.

[Holly Hobbs:] And what about addressing the risks themselves? What is
the federal government doing to reduce its exposure?

[Alfredo Gomez:] So the agencies are taking some actions to enhance
climate resilience. For example, federal agencies, including the
Department of Defense, have developed climate change adaptation plans.
And also, they're just starting to implement them. So overall, the
entire federal government is just beginning to take action to reduce its
fiscal exposure to climate change.

{MUSIC}

[Holly Hobbs:] Alfredo just told us that as we increasingly see the
impacts of climate change, we will also see greater costs to the federal
government. And that while the government is taking action, it needs
more direction from Congress. So, Alfredo what more needs to be done to
reduce these risks?

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yeah. So based on our previous work and this current
report, we have outlined for Congress and the federal agencies ways in
which they can enhance climate resilience by developing an
organizational arrangement with five key elements. So, the first one is
to designate a federal agency to develop a national climate resilience
strategic plan. 
Also, Congress should consider establishing a national climate
information system. And what we mean by that is a system that contains
authoritative climate projections and observations. And these are also
data that can be updated to have the best available information. Third,
is Congress should also designate a federal entity to develop and
support the use of climate economics information that we've been talking
about. Fourth, Congress should ensure that there is a consistent
approach for prioritizing climate resilience investments. The federal
government needs to do a better job to decide where they're going to
invest resources. And then lastly, we also believe that there is a need
for a community driven climate migration pilot program. And that is a
way to be able to move people out of harm's way. And we can do that and
learn from it by doing a pilot program first.

[Holly Hobbs:] Last question. What's the bottom line of this report?

[Alfredo Gomez:] The bottom line of this report is that Congress needs
to better organize the federal government to invest in climate
resilience projects. That's going to help the nation buy-down its large
and growing climate related costs.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Alfredo Gomez talking about our new report about
the federal government's financial exposure to climate change. Thanks
for your time, Alfredo.

[Alfredo Gomez:] Thank you for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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