Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, a hedge-fund billionaire and major Democratic donor, are linking arms Tuesday to release a report, Risky Business, that argues U.S. companies should treat climate change as any other business threat.
The report, which says climate change could cost the country billions of dollars over the next two decades, is the product of a bipartisan group of former cabinet officers, lawmakers, corporate leaders and scientists.
In an interview, Mr. Paulson said the goal is to depoliticize the climate-change debate and instead focus on how it poses an economic risk to U.S. businesses.
"The whole point was to have a bipartisan group who agreed on the nature of the problem, which is that climate change is a huge economic risk," said Mr. Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush.
The study concludes that within the next 15 years, higher sea levels, storm surges and hurricanes could raise the annual price tag for coastal damage along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to $35 billion. Some Midwestern and Southern agricultural areas could see a decline in yields of more than 10% over the next five to 25 years due to increased drought and flooding, unless farmers adapt their crops, according to the study.
A pivotal player in the group is Mr. Steyer, a powerful voice on the environmental left and an increasingly important source of funds for Democrats.
Risky Business was prompted in part by Mr. Steyer, who reached out to Mr. Paulson, the two men have said.
Mr. Steyer and his advocacy group, NextGen Climate, are focusing on seven elections this fall, including the Pennsylvania and Florida gubernatorial races and Senate races in Michigan and Iowa.
Mr. Steyer strongly opposes the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada and has said he wouldn't help Democrats who support Keystone.
Among Risky Business's committee members is Gregory Page, executive chairman of Cargill Inc., the agribusiness giant that mostly donates to Republicans.
In an interview, Mr. Page said he agreed to serve on the Risky Business committee because the group isn't focusing on potential solutions, which sharply divide Americans in general and could split this group in particular.
"It's the effort of very good scientists to assess potential impacts and a range of outcomes," he said.
The independent assessment of the risks to the U.S. economy was conducted by the Rhodium Group, an economic research firm that analyzes disruptive global trends, and Risk Management Solutions, the world's largest catastrophe-modeling company for reinsurance and investment management firms.
To estimate the time frames and possible costs, the two companies used recent advances in climate modeling, econometric research and private-sector risk assessment looking at regions of the country, organized loosely around shared geologic characteristics and climate impacts. In some areas, they broke down data by counties.
Some lawmakers remain skeptical that climate change will have such a severe impact and others say any potential solutions are too expensive.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a number of energy companies are fighting new carbon-emissions limits that will affect coal-fired power plants. They say the regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency will lead to job losses, impose heavy costs on the utilities industry and raise electricity prices.
Mr. Page said he understands some of the disagreement over climate change, but that in the agricultural sector, the threat of long-term weather-pattern changes cannot be ignored. Risky Business's methodology produced a lot of useful, detailed data, he said, but didn't promote one solution or political agenda—one of the reasons he and Cargill participated in the project, he added.
Mr. Page said he has received some calls from other executives expressing curiosity about how Cargill became involved. He said he would have a better sense of any criticism after the report is released.
On Wednesday, Messrs. Paulson, Steyer, Page and several others will meet with White House officials to discuss Risky Business. Mr. Paulson and Mr. Steyer both plan to promote the study to business and investment groups; Mr. Paulson is also going to discuss it on his next visit to China.
The Risky Business effort was applauded by the president of the Reinsurance Association of America, Frank Nutter, who said: "It is crucial that industry factor into account the science of climate change, and changes to national and global weather patterns in risk assessment and pricing."
The project's director was Kate Gordon, a key figure at the nonadvocacy arm of Mr. Steyer's NextGen. The funders include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Office of Hank Paulson, the Skoll Global Threats Fund, and the TomKat Charitable Trust, one of Mr. Steyer's entities.
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