Climate-related extreme weather events cost the global economy more than $2 trillion over the past decade and the U.S. was the worst-affected nation, per a report published as leaders gather for the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan Monday.
Why it matters: The damage estimates in the Oxera report for the International Chamber of Commerce for 2014-2023 roughly equate to those of the 2008 global financial crisis and ICC secretary-general John Denton said "the economic impact of climate change" needs a "response of similar speed and decisiveness," per CNN.
Nearly four years ago, the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats made a $1.9 trillion bet in the form of the American Rescue Plan. They lost, as it contributed to a surge in inflation that fueled massive voter discontent and Donald Trump's return to the White House.
Why it matters: In the next recession, politicians and policymakers may be more hesitant to unleash the type of programs that drove America's rapid recovery from the pandemic-induced crisis.
A fierce divide has emerged from the early autopsies of Democrats' election disaster: Was it policy — or culture — that doomed the party with working-class Americans?
