Shipping delays, higher insurance losses, tight energy supplies and a decline in some tourist-based activities are among the climate change effects that the business community can expect in the coming years, according to a new report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
The group of government agency experts and academia updated a nine-year-old assessment of expected climate change impacts, breaking down its analysis by sector and region.
Delays in the shipment of goods will come as climate change causes increased flooding, mudslides, cracking pavement, a shorter ice road season in Alaska and infrastructure damage from stronger and more frequent hurricanes.
Transportation planners have not typically accounted for climate change in their long-term planning and project development. The longevity of transportation infrastructure, the long-term nature of climate change, and the potential impacts identified by recent studies warrant serious attention to climate change in planning new or rehabilitated transportation systems.
The report can be viewed in its entirety at GlobalChange.gov.