Los Angeles Faces $12 Billion Climate Price Tag.
The Center for Climate Integrity has concluded that it will cost a minimum of $12.5 billion to fight the effects of climate change in Los Angeles between now and 2040.
The analysis concluded:
Protecting Los Angeles County communities from 14 different climate change impacts will cost taxpayers at least $12.5 billion by the end of 2040, a new study from the Center for Climate Integrity and Resilient Analytics shows.
Los Angeles County is the largest in the nation, with 10 million residents. It covers 4,700 square miles and includes Los Angeles. It includes 14 cities with populations over 100,000.,
The most expensive parts of the price tag will be improving stormwater management to mitigate flooding ($4.3 billion), investing in cool pavements to combat heat ($2.5 billion), planting and maintaining trees to combat urban heat islands ($1.4 billion), responding to an increase of childhood asthma and West Nile Virus cases ($1.1 billion), and mitigating wildfire damage ($919 million).
The analysis does not consider that the climate effects on the area are increasing quickly. For example, massive storms dumped vast amounts of water in the region following two decades of drought. Both conditions were not anticipated, so there is little chance to prepare for future catastrophes.
While the new report is valuable, its numbers are too low.
