2014/07/16 Council Agenda Packet

EXEC I" MY access to air conditioning, will face severe health risks and potential death, Demand for electricity for air condning will surge in those parts of the country facing the most extreme temperature increases, straining regional generation and trans -mission capacity and driving up costs for consumers. Shifting agricultural patterns and crop yields, with likely gains for Northern farmers offset by losses in the Midwest and South As extreme heat spreads across the middEe of the .country by'tl e end of the century, scare states in the Southeast, lower Great Plains, and Midwest risk up to a 50N to 70% loss in average annual crop yields (corn, soy, cotton, and wheat), absent agricultural adaptation. At the same time, warmer temperatures and carbon fertilization may improve agricultural productivity and crop yields in the upper Great Plains and other northern states. Food systems are resilient at a national and global level, and agricultural producers have proven then-i- selves extremely able to adapt to changing climate conditions, These shifts, however, still carry risks for the individual farming communities most vulnerable to projected climatic changes. The Risky Business Project is designed to highlight climate risks to specific business sectors and regions of the economy, and to provide actionable data at a geo- graphically granular level for decision -makers. IL is our hope that it becomes standard practice for the American business and invesEmenit community to factor climate RISKY BUSINESS The Economic Maks of Climate Change In the United States change into its decision -making process. We are already seeing this response from the agricultural and national security sectors; we are starting to see it from the bond markets and utilities as well. But business Mill tends to respond only to the extent that these risks intersect with core short term financial and planning decisions. We also know that the private sector does not operate n a vacuum, and that the economy runs most smoothly when government sets a consistent policy and a regula-- : w within tory'framework',��ithm which Business has the freedom to operate. Right now, cities er' d businesses are scram- bling to adapt to a changing clir"r'iate °Aril=gout sufficient federal government support, resulting in a virtual "un- funded mandate t:ry orrr s ion" to deal with climate at the local level.' We believe that American businesses should play an active role in helping the public sector determine how best to react to the risks and costs posed by climate change, and how to set the rules that move the country - forward in a new, more sustainable direction. With this report, we call on the American business community to rise to the challenge and lead the way in helping reduce climate risks. We hope the Risky Business Project will facilitate this action by providing critical information about how clin<ate change may affect key sectors and regions of our national economy. This is only a first step, but it's a step toward getting America on a new path leading to a more secure, more certain economic future,