Eco-nomics: The risks, costs we're seeing now from climate change
By Paul Roberts / For The Herald
On every continent and in every corner of the globe climate change is bringing new realities, new risks and adaptation challenges. Climate change is supersizing events such as floods, fires and heat, making them more frequent, intense and costly, as the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has shown. It is changing the way we measure and manage risks and driving higher losses and insurance costs.
Many aspects of climate change are complex, but the basic physics are not. Carbon dioxide is warming the atmosphere, and warmer air holds more moisture resulting in more rain, flooding, heat and hurricanes. Saturated soils result in more frequent and damaging landslides. High heat and low humidity expand available fuels increasing wildfire risks.
Last month Hurricane Helene hit the Big Bend region of Florida where the panhandle and peninsula meet. It was one of the strongest storms in recorded history and the third hurricane to hit this area since August of 2023 (Hurricanes Debbie this August and Idalia in August of 2023).
Warm water is fuel for hurricanes. They rapidly increase in intensity over warm waters as they approach land. Helene went from a category 1 hurricane to a category 4 in just hours as it approached Florida in waters well in excess of 80 degrees.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/eco-nomics-the-risks-costs-were-seeing-now-from-climate-change/