Worsening storms caused by climate change are forecast to cost Canada's economy $139 billion over the next 30 years, according to a new report by engineering firm GHD.
The report, entitled “Aquanomics,” forecasts that flooding, droughts and major storms that wash out highways, damage buildings, and impact power grids will cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars in the coming years and decades.
The report points to floods last year in British Columbia that cut off rail and highway links between the country's biggest port in Vancouver and the rest of Canada as a sign of things to come.
The disruption in B.C. stressed supply chains and led to increased prices and slower production at factories in the province.
The report predicts manufacturing and distribution will take the biggest hit from climate disasters between now and 2050, forecasting $64 billion in losses, or about 0.2% of the total manufacturing economy in Canada each year.
While droughts can restrict industrial production, floods and storms can cause direct damage to buildings and machinery, or take out power supplies, forcing factories to shutdown.
A devastating windstorm that ripped across southern and eastern Ontario in May of this year damaged the power grid in Ottawa so badly that parts of the city were without power for more than two weeks.
The impact of drought is being seen across Europe this summer as near-record lows on the Rhine River have halted marine traffic along Europe's most heavily used shipping lane, which links ports in Belgium and the Netherlands to Germany and Switzerland.
Last week in China, a massive heat wave prompted the government to force some factories to close in order to ration power as low river levels cut power output at hydroelectric dams.
Governments in California, Nevada, Utah and other parts of the U.S. are now enforcing water rationing in the midst of what’s being called the worst drought in more than a millennium.
Canada’s energy and utilities sector will face an estimated $14 billion in losses between now and 2050, according to the GHD report. Climate change could lead to direct damage to power grids and production plants, or reductions in power output at hydro dams and nuclear plants because of low water levels, says the report.
