El Ni ño ’ s Lasting Impact Can Cost the Global Economy Trillions of Dollars

The natural burst of El Nino warming that changes weather worldwide is far costlier with longer-lasting expenses than experts had thought, averaging trillions of dollars in damage, a new study found. An El Nino is brewing now and it might be a big — and therefore costly — one, scientists said. El Nino is a temporary and natural warming of parts of the equatorial Pacific, that causes droughts, floods and heat waves in different parts of the world. It also adds an extra boost to human-caused warming. The study in Thursday’s journal Science totals global damage with an emphasis on lasting economic scars. It runs counter to previous research that found, at least in the United States, that El Ninos overall aren’t too costly and can even be beneficial. And some — but not all — outside economists have issues with the new research out of Dartmouth College, saying its damage estimates are too big. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Study authors said the average El Nino costs the global economy about $3.4 trillion. The strong 1997-1998 one cost $5.7 trillion. The World Bank estimated the 1997-1998 El Nino cost governments $45 billion, which is more than 100 times smaller than the Dartmouth estimate. Read more: How El Niño May Test the Limits of Our Climate Knowledge But the Dartmouth team said they are looking at more than the traditional costs and for longer time periods. “We have this sense that El Nino is a really big hamme...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change embargoed study healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news