At a Glance
- A NextGen Climate report says climate change will cost millennials and their offspring $8.8 trillion.
- The report calls for a change to clean energy to curb climate change.
Climate change could have a major impact on the quality of life for millennials and their children, a new study says.
According to a report by NextGen Climate, the millennial generation will "lose approximately $8.8 trillion in lifetime income if we fail to act on climate change."
NextGen's report, titled "The Price Tag of Being Young," comes from an October 2015 UC Berkeley projection that maintains an average person's income in the year 2100 will be 23 percent lower than it would be in a world without global warming.
The report notes that climate change will have a "significant impact on millennials’ household incomes and wealth, with rapidly worsening effects by mid-century, as the youngest millennials reach their peak earning years."
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The report, funded by California hedge fund billionaire and environmentalist Tom Steyer, urges an emphasis on clean energy to change the predicted future for millennials and their offspring.
"Young people today are uniquely exposed to the risks, costs and devastation of climate change on its current path," reads the report. "Yet, the economic risks are compounded even further since inaction on climate change means that we are missing out on a major opportunity for much needed new investment and millions of new jobs by transitioning to clean energy."
Income Impacts From Global Warming
The report predicts that unless measures to stop global warming are implemented, some of the changes that will affect income and costs for future generations include rising sea levels that will eventually inundate coastal communities, along with a rising frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and related flooding.
Increased droughts in the Southwest, California and the central Great Plains states will impact agricultural productivity and a subsequent increase in the cost of goods for the consumer. Health care costs will increase, the report says, because of "climate-related health impacts from various sources, including heat waves, poorer air quality and increased rates of insect-borne infectious disease."
The report's final call to action is for millennials to get out and vote in November for candidates that are committed to clean energy and to putting a stop to global warming.
"Young people’s voting power can be a major force for achieving a future that is equitable, opportunity-rich and as safe as possible from the catastrophic risks of climate change," said the report.
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