Accounting for Costs: Climate Change-Related Health Costs in the US

Estimates of climate change's potential costs to society typically neglect health-related costs, which underestimates climate change's true costs. This talk describes the valuation methodology developed and applied by a team of health scientists and economists in 2011 to arrive at health cost estimates from six climate change-related case studies. The six include extreme weather, disease or pollution events representative of types projected to worsen with climate change: ozone air pollution, heat waves, hurricanes, outbreaks of infectious disease, river flooding, and wildfires. This is the first study to develop a uniform method of quantifying the associated health costs for events of types projected to be exacerbated by climate change. Health costs exceeding $14 billion dollars and over 760,000 interactions with the health care system are estimated from 2002-2009, for just these six case studies. This talk proposes how to begin to weave together an even fuller cost accounting of climate change's effects on health. Estimating the health effects of climate change-related events and the associated costs in dollars, can inform progress toward more health-protective energy and preparedness policies. These policies could offer substantial benefits, in terms of avoided health costs and in building healthier, more secure communities.