No, CNN, Climate Change is Not Costing the U.S. Billions
By
Linnea Lueken
December 1, 2023
CNN Business posted an article titled “Climate change is costing the US $150 billion a year. Here’s what that looks like,” which cites a recent government climate report to claim that global warming is causing an increase in costly weather disasters. This is false. Data refutes the assertion that extreme weather is becoming more frequent or severe. As a result, climate change cannot be behind the rise in weather related damage. The real reason is a matter of demographics and economics, especially population growth and increased development in natural disaster-prone areas.
CNN claims that the United States experiences a weather event costing $1 billion in damage every three weeks, as opposed to “40 years ago, when extreme weather episodes that cost an inflation-adjusted $1 billion happened once every four months on average.” This figure comes from the Biden administration’s recent National Climate Assessment (NCA) report.
What CNN neglects to mention in their effort to tie rising disaster costs to climate change is that property values – both in the form of objects like houses, cars, and home goods, as well as land values – have increased over time. This obviously contributes to the rising costs of damages, with or without inflation factored in. In addition, more people than ever before insure their property, under various government backed flood, disaster, and crop insurance programs.
https://climaterealism.com/2023/12/no-cnn-climate-change-is-not-costing-the-u-s-billions/
