Climate Change

CBO analyzes proposals to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, including ones that would impose taxes on emissions and direct the government to sell rights to businesses to produce set amounts of those emissions. Such proposals could have significant effects on the climate, the economy, the well-being of people in different groups, and the federal budget.

Report
Budgetary Effects of Climate Change and of Potential Legislative Responses to It
April 27, 2021
CBO outlines the main channels by which climate change and policies intended to mitigate or adapt to it affect the federal budget. Climate change increases budget deficits; investments in mitigation or adaptation could reduce those costs.
Working Paper
CBO’s Projection of the Effect of Climate Change on U.S. Economic Output: Working Paper 2020-06
September 21, 2020
This paper describes how CBO constructed its projection of the effect of climate change on U.S. output, how the projected effect should be interpreted, limitations of the analysis, and the central climate-change scenario that CBO used.
Report
Expected Costs of Damage From Hurricane Winds and Storm-Related Flooding
April 10, 2019
Expected annual economic losses from most types of damage caused by hurricane winds and storm-related flooding total $54 billion—$34 billion in losses to households, $9 billion to commercial businesses, and $12 billion to the public sector.