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Impacts of Climate Change on Washington's Economy

2009 Full Report: An Overview of Potential Economic Costs to Washington of a Business-As-Usual Approach to Climate Change (2.6MB pdf)

Overview factsheet: Focus on Impacts of Climate Change in Washington State (pdf)

News release

2006 Economic Impacts Report


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In February 2009, the University of Oregon issued a report by a team of university and private economists from Oregon, Washington and several other states, detailing the economic costs in Washington state of a “business as usual approach to climate change.”

The economists concluded that Washington’s families, businesses and communities are likely to incur billions of dollars of annual economic costs if Washington state and other states and nations fail to drive reductions in climate-changing greenhouse gas pollution.

The report identifies the following impacts to Washington’s economy:

• Increased energy costs
• Reduced salmon populations
• Coastal and storm damage
• Reduced food production
• Increased wildland fire costs
• Increased public health costs
• Lost recreation

The 2009 economic report is built on a 2006 study of the impacts of climate change on Washington’s economy.