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Climate change will increase local government fiscal stress in the United States

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 216–218 (2022)Cite this article

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Climate hazards can compound existing stresses on the revenues and expenditures of local governments, revealing potential risks to fiscal stability. Incorporating these risks into local budgeting and strategic planning would encourage a more complete accounting of the benefits of climate adaptation and risk reduction efforts.

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Fig. 1: The intersection of physical risks that arise from climate hazards are translated into budget impacts through the exposure in the budget and the fiscal health of a locality.
Fig. 2: Pathways by which climate shocks and trends affect specific categories of revenues and expenditures in the budget.

References

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported as part of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub under National Science Foundation award ICER-2103754.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Elisabeth A. Gilmore

  2. Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Elisabeth A. Gilmore

  3. Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Carolyn Kousky

  4. Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Travis St.Clair

Authors
  1. Elisabeth A. Gilmore
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  2. Carolyn Kousky
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  3. Travis St.Clair
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Contributions

E.G., C.K. and T.S. share credit equally for conceptualization, analysis and writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Elisabeth A. Gilmore.

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Gilmore, E.A., Kousky, C. & St.Clair, T. Climate change will increase local government fiscal stress in the United States. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 216–218 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01311-x

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