Consumer Reports and Breakthrough Energy We recently quantified the social cost of carbon and calculated the cost of climate change for an American child born in 2024. Facing $500,000 and $1 million in rising living costs and falling incomes Global warming will disrupt people’s lives and food supplies, and reduce returns on investments, resulting in economic losses for consumers over their lifetimes. Chris Hult, senior policy analyst for transportation and energy at Consumer Reports, who led the study for the nonprofit magazine, joined the conversation to discuss the economic impacts of global warming. Chris explained the findings and Consumer Reports’ Climate Action Servicesand tips on how to mitigate the impact today Domestic Energy and commute To free our children and their descendants from the burden of climate change.
The social cost of carbon is generally described in aggregate terms as trillions of dollars of additional cost to the cost of living for future generations. The Biden administration has set the social cost of carbon per ton of emissions and currently estimates the future cost at $51 per ton of CO2 emissions today. This is more than 10 times the Trump-era estimate of $5 per ton, but far below the science-based estimate of $185 per ton, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Resources for the Future. It is therefore hard to imagine the real impact on us and our grandchildren. You can find the article “Climate Change Could Cost Every American Born Today $500,000” at https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/climate-change/the-per-person-financial-cost-of-climate-change-a6081217358/.
Editor’s note: This interview aired on May 13, 2024.
