Damage To State's Economy Predicted From Climate Change

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 14, 2008 at 6:40 AM PST

A new report from the UC-Berkeley puts a price tag on the potential damage to the state's economy from climate change. The study says at least $4 trillion in state assets are at risk. KPBS Environment

A new report from the UC-Berkeley puts a price tag on the potential damage to the state's economy from climate change. The study says at least $4 trillion in state assets are at risk. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The report says more than half of the state's property is at risk from extreme weather events, sea level rise, and wildfires.

The study's lead author is UC-Berkeley Adjunct Professor David Roland-Holst.

He says the potential costs of climate risk are staggering.

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Roland-Holst: With an annual projected damage price tag of $300 million to $3.9 billion over this century, depending upon how warm the world gets. Insurance exposure for near-shore property in California could approach half a trillion dollars.

Roland-Holst says if no action is taken, other areas of the state's economy would suffer, including agriculture and tourism.

He says the most expensive thing California can do about climate change is nothing.

The study recommends the state expand the assessment of climate change risk and figure out ways to reduce it.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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