‘Negligent’ to talk about long term risks to Australia without examining cost of climate crisis, experts say

The latest intergenerational report has been criticised for underplaying the impact of global heating. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The latest intergenerational report has been criticised for underplaying the impact of global heating. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian ‘Negligent’ to talk about long term risks to Australia without examining cost of climate crisis, experts say One academic says federal government’s intergenerational report, a snapshot of life in 2066, ignores the economic damage on the horizon Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our email, free app or daily news podcast An Australian government snapshot of life in 40 years has been sharply criticised for underplaying the economic and social damage expected due to the worsening climate crisis. The government’s seventh intergenerational report, which projects out to 2066, finds the effects of global heating four decades from now are “highly uncertain”, pointing to the pace of the global energy transition as a key source of unpredictability. The report finds sea level rise from global heating will have the greatest effects on coastal and low-lying areas, while hotter temperatures could reduce productivity of workers, affect agricultural crop yields and damage tourism. “Over the next 40 years, increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters will pose a significant economic risk,” it finds. the Australia emailThe deputy director of Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne, Assoc Prof Ben Neville, said that while the report “connects demographic trends with threats on the horizon, it is negligent in ignoring the economic damage that the changing climate already is and will increasingly bring in the next 40 years”. The report mentions treasury modelling which finds that a disorderly approach to the net zero transition result in a cumulative $2tn hit to the economy by 2050. “As the geopolitics show, we are clearly on this disorderly pathway,” Neville said, adding that – as highlighted – current modelling methods significantly underestimate economic impacts “as they don’t incorporate the recognised complex impacts of climate change”. “Not integrating this perspective when forecasting the next 40 years is a very disappointing miss, illustrating a government that just doesn’t seem to get it on climate change, all while it co-leads the world towards the next global Cop negotiations in Turkey.