Changes in the Earth’s Climate Could Spell Higher Costs for States
Source: National Council of State Legislatures

While the debate rages on about how to protect the planet, the changing climate may threaten some states’ economies.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER) at the University of Maryland have worked together to develop State Economic and Environmental Costs of Climate Change reports. Four additional state economic and environmental costs of Climate Change Reports are being released for North Carolina, Tennessee, North Dakota and Pennsylvania. Each report summarize the climatic changes affecting each states, the potential fiscal impact, and the affect of any future climate changes. The findings for Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey and Ohio were released during an Energy Conference at NCSL’s Legislative Summit in New Orleans.

States are taking the lead to implement policies that address climate change and environmental sustainability. The federal government is likely to enact climate legislation within the next few years. States that create energy policies now may be a step ahead when Congress passes its first greenhouse gas reduction law.

+ Full Report (PDF; 99 KB)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Business and economics, Climate Change/Global Warming, Government and politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.