To quote Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), coauthor of the bill’s climate adaptation provisions:“There’s people living in Livingston Parish, for example, flooded in 2016, whose lives — everything in their life was destroyed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change views funding for climate resilience as an investment in avoided costs. According to Brian O’Callaghan, coauthor of the United Nations Adaptation Gap report: “Investing in climate adaptation is a bit like getting insurance for a known event. The 2019 report, A Climate Security Plan for America: A Presidential Plan for Combating the Security Risks of Climate Change, warns:“It cannot be assumed that the U.S. will naturally adapt to the security risks of climate change in the future. Implementing these policies would signify U.S. leadership and be a critical step in the climate fight.

Source: New York Times December 18, 2021 10:07 UTC