Climate change is already affecting everyday lives. Record-breaking temperatures, melting ice on land and sea, more frequent coastal flooding, prolonged droughts, and damaging storms are just some of the intensifying risks communities face as the globe continues to warm. The best available scientific evidence suggests that these changes are likely to accelerate, with implications for the health and welfare of every community around the world and the performance of every sector of the economy.
To confront these challenges, business leaders, policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders need information about the nature of the risks they face. The Climate Impact Lab’s team of economists, climate scientists, data engineers, and risk analysts is building the world’s most comprehensive body of research quantifying the impacts of climate change sector-by-sector, community-by-community around the world. This research will allow decisionmakers in the public and private sectors to understand the risks climate change presents and mitigate those risks through smarter investments and public policy. The research will also produce the world’s first empirically derived estimate of the social cost of carbon — the cost to society from each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. This figure can serve as the basis for energy and climate policies.
The Climate Impact Lab team combines experts from the University of California, Berkeley, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), Rhodium Group, and Rutgers University. EPIC provides core financial and administrative support for the Lab.
