A lack of action on climate change could cost millennials in the U.S more than $8 trillion, according to a report issued Monday by the think tank Demos. The report seeks to quantify the costs of climate change to the millennial generation and their children. “Politicians have made a series of policy choices that are leaving the millennial generation in bad shape, and this is particularly true for what could be the biggest threat ever faced over the lifetime of a single generation: climate change,” the report says.
According to Demos’ data, “without action on climate change, the millennial generation as a whole will lose nearly $8.8 trillion in lifetime income.” A 21-year-old median income-earning college graduate in the class of 2015 will lose more than $126,000 in income over his or her lifetime if no action is taken on climate, the report says.
Climate change is already costing Americans, the report says. “For the eighth consecutive year, extreme weather has cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, pollution from coal- and gas-burning power plants is estimated to have caused 4,400 deaths and $38 billion in health costs in 2015 alone. An estimate of Florida’s mounting coastal liabilities found that damages in the state from a single hurricane could reach $641 billion by 2030 due to rising sea levels and more extreme weather,” the report explains.
The news only gets worse for the children of millennials, according to the report. “A median-earner born in 2015 will lose approximately $357,000 in income over her lifetime, and approximately $581,000 in wealth if the income were to be saved and invested,” the report says.
