Climate Change: The Cost of Inaction for Maryland’s Economy

The American Climate Prospectus addressed several key climate impacts over the coming century, including increases in heat-related mortality, increases in the amount of coastal property exposed to flooding, declines in labor productivity, increases in energy expenditures, and declines in agricultural output. In this paper, we explore impacts not explicitly presented by the American Climate Prospectus, which include estimates of how climate change might affect infrastructure, tourism, ecosystems, agriculture, water resources, or aspects of human health beyond heat-related mortality (e.g., respiratory ailments associated with lower air quality, and changes in the range of disease vectors). Additionally, we provide an update to the costs of inaction previously listed in Chapter 4 and Appendix F of the 2011 Maryland Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Appendix A; Table 1).