A top CSIRO climate scientist has warned that the threat of climate change is not a far-off prospect, predicting Australians will start to see the impacts in the “next 10 to 20 years”.
The CSIRO’s latest biennial State of the Climate report, released on Thursday, shows average temperatures continue to rise steadily, with Australia’s average temperatures rising by 1.5 degrees for the first time since records began.
Dr Jaci Brown, the CSIRO’s climate research manager, joined ABC’s RN Breakfast to discuss the report.
Brown said that climate change would “absolutely” intersect with the cost of living in the foreseeable future, having an impact on insurance, energy and even where you go.
Loading
“My kids talk about the price of housing, because that’s in the media a lot. ‘How will I afford to leave my Mum?’ And I think I really hope you do one day, but it’s not necessarily about the price of the houses,” Brown said.
“I’m worried about whether they’ll be able to afford to insure it.”
Brown elaborated that, although she is a climate scientist, not an economist, it was a clear reality that “extreme events are going to happen more frequently”.
“Everybody knows that it’s in the report, it’s a fact, it’s in the data” Brown said.
“The insurance companies have that same information, so of course, the insurance premiums are going to increase to deal with that. That’s the reality, particularly if you’ve got a house in a risk area.”
Read the full article here
