Treasury chief mocks Greta Thunberg. But climate change already costs the US billions

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took aim at Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday, saying she should give advice after studying economics in college.

Mnuchin’s comments came at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after Thunberg recommended that public and private sectors should divest from fossil fuels or face “a climate chaos.”

“Is she the chief economist? Who is she? I’m confused,” Mnuchin responded according to The Associated Press. He later said, “It was a joke.”

“After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us,” he said.

Who is Greta Thunberg?

Thunberg gained prominence after her solo school strikes for climate action became a worldwide student movement. The 17-year-old later traveled by boat across the Atlantic to advocate for climate change at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York.

Thunberg issued a series of demands at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, saying participants should halt investments in fossil fuel extraction, end fossil fuel subsidies and completely divest from fossil fuels.

“Our house is still on fire,” she said, according to The New York Times. “Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.”

What are the costs of climate change?

Climate change, or the effect of warming on the global climate, is already costing the U.S. economy billions. That’s because climate change fuels extreme weather such as hurricanes and wildfires.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in 2018 that the U.S. has seen 241 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters since 1980. In 2018, the U.S. saw 14 billion-dollar disaster events including tropical cyclones, severe storms, drought and wildfires.

NOAA said the U.S. saw more than twice the amount of billion-dollar disasters than the long-term average between 2016-2018. It attributed the increase to a combination of increased exposure, vulnerability and the fact that “climate change is increasing the frequency of some types of extremes.”

A report published in 2017 by the nonprofit the Universal Ecological Fund found economic losses from extreme weather and air pollution could reach up to $360 billion annually in the next decade, which is about half of the expected growth of the economy.

Study coauthor Sir Robert Watson told National Geographic that the report shows the costs of not acting on climate change are “very significant.”

“Burning fossil fuels comes at a giant price tag which the U.S. economy cannot afford and not sustain,” he said.

Thunberg responded to Mnuchin on Twitter on Thursday, saying that it “doesn’t take a college degree in economics” to realize that keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius and fossil fuel subsidies and investments “don’t add up.”

“So either you tell us how to achieve this mitigation or explain to future generations and those already affected by the climate emergency why we should abandon our climate commitments,” she said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came to Thunberg’s defense on Twitter, saying people will mock her for not having an economics degree, but if someone does have one, like Ocasio-Cortez does, people will claim it’s illegitimate.

“Haters gonna hate and deniers will deny,” she said. “They will deny logic, science, and environmental consensus in order to protect oligarchy.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Treasury chief mocks Greta Thunberg. But climate change already costs the US billions."