The future cost of climate inaction? $2 trillion a year, says the government

A person takes a photo of the Schuylkill River after it flooded the Manayunk section of Philadelphia in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Thursday Sept. 2, 2021. As weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable caused by climate change, transit officials say that more needs to be done to prepare the East Coast's vital transit systems. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

With time running out to head off the worst damage from climate change, the United States government is starting to quantify the cost of inaction – for taxpayers.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the first ever accounting of how unchecked global warming would impact the federal budget, looking at its potential to dampen the economy as a whole, and balloon the costs of climate-related programs over time.

“The fiscal risk of climate change is immense,” wrote Candace Vahlsing, Associate Director for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Science at OMB, and Danny Yagan, Chief Economist at OMB, in a blog post discussing the analysis.