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Last Update: 10/26/2026 at 11:33 PM EST
Climate Economics and Financial Risk
Coverage from ESS Open Archive, The Conversation, and others
Climate economics examines how physical hazards and climate change reshape economic output, welfare, assets, insurance, and public finances.
It includes the models used to estimate damages, from GDP-based assessments to broader approaches that account for mortality, inequality, ecosystems, tipping points, regional shocks, and cascading effects. Financial institutions and policymakers use these assessments to evaluate portfolios, resilience, debt, adaptation, and systemic risk. Reports from the University of Exeter, Carbon Tracker, and other researchers have highlighted gaps in conventional damage functions, while market analyses show how operational disruption and business interruption can exceed direct property losses.
Looking Back
266 Day Timeline
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All Articles49 articles
Important
A global synthesis of about 8,000 urban climate studies finds structural biases that limit transferability to rapidly urbanizing, climate-vulnerable regions.
4/10/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Scientists and policy leaders are urged to develop updated climate-risk assessments that communicate avoidable worst-case flooding scenarios for cities such as London.
7/13/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Chao Ye and international colleagues argued in a Science Bulletin commentary that climate researchers should integrate social behavior, political institutions, and physical climate processes into coupled models.
9/5/2026 • Policy, Politics & Governance • General
International institutions call now for a global climate-change risk assessment to map risks worldwide.
2/25/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
A University of Exeter and Carbon Tracker Initiative report published in the 2020s finds mainstream economic damage functions understate climate impacts, warning UK asset owners and pension funds of underestimated risk.
2/5/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Experts warn now that an internationally mandated global risk assessment of climate change risks is needed to guide policy and adaptation worldwide.
2/27/2026 • Policy, Politics & Governance • General
In January 2026, Dartmouth Engineering researchers and collaborators published a PNAS paper urging more open, reusable climate-risk modeling practices to inform major decisions worldwide.
1/27/2026 • Policy, Politics & Governance • General
Researchers using wavelet-based quantile-on-quantile methods report that physical climate risks generally reduce national environmental governance effectiveness, while transition risks vary by quantile and time horizon.
1/1/2026 • Policy, Politics & Governance • General
Nature Climate Change researchers report ocean warming and acidification increase the social cost of carbon in the United States in 2026.
2/23/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Inside Climate News features physician Vanessa Kerry explaining in a U.S.-focused interview how fossil-fuel air pollution harms health and economies while EPA weakens health-benefit accounting.
1/24/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Interesting
Researchers publish analysis in 2026 linking climate science and economics to inform global policy on risk and action.
3/1/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Researchers call for global climate risk assessment worldwide now.
2/25/2026 • Climate Science & Impacts • General
Stanford researchers published a Nature study in loss and damage accounting that values economic harms from historical carbon dioxide emissions for countries and major emitters.
3/25/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Net Zero Commission report estimates historical warming has caused median 18% economic losses in New South Wales in 2024, driven by global weather changes.
6/9/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Net Zero Commission releases an analysis for New South Wales estimating median 2024 economic losses of about 18% from historical climate change.
6/9/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
From 2010 to 2023, temperature-related climate risk reduced bank loan growth in France for micro and SME firms, with acute heat causing faster but temporary contractions.
7/10/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers report that monetized ocean damages nearly double social cost of carbon estimates in Nature Climate Change.
6/21/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Researchers using an emulation valuation framework estimate UK welfare losses from current warming and baseline climate outcomes, with catastrophic and missing risks driving uncertainty.
6/19/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Stanford University researchers estimate United States emissions caused $10.2 trillion in global climate damages from 1990-2020 and $16.2 trillion in domestic losses.
3/30/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
A RICE50++ analysis estimates 2025 GSCC at $194 per tCO2 and finds national social cost of carbon damages concentrate in large economies, driven by discounting and climate sensitivity.
1/21/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
From 2023 to 2025, MSCI and First Street found that only 27% of more than 25,000 companies substantially disclosed physical climate risks in annual reports.
9/23/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
In 2026, a University of Chicago working paper estimates local climate damages using about 25,000 regions and finds highly unequal impacts of marginal CO2.
6/17/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Researchers in a global 2026 study find ocean damages double the social cost of carbon.
1/15/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
The University of Exeter, Carbon Tracker Initiative, and Aurora Trust on February 5, 2026, released survey findings showing climate scientists view GDP-based climate-economic models as underestimating systemic climate risks.
2/4/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Deloitte reports that climate-related uncertainty in Australia and New Zealand increases mutual fund inflow sensitivity to ESG ratings.
5/13/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Researchers propose incorporating air quality health impacts into the social cost of carbon, prioritizing wildfire smoke and surface-level ozone for near-term updates.
5/28/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Nature published a study led by Marshall Burke in 2020s assessing US emissions as the largest driver of global GDP losses under loss and damage estimates since 1990.
3/26/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Fitch Ratings and Stanford researchers report in 2024 that climate physical and transition risks raise sovereign credit vulnerability and borrowing costs in exposed countries including the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Philippines.
2/9/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
In February 2026, the University of Exeter and Carbon Tracker published a global report from Europe finding economic models understate climate damages, without addressing heat-pump technologies.
2/6/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
WTW's Thinking Ahead Institute, through Jeff Chee, outlines a climate-focused risk 2.0 investment framework in a 2026 column on Top1000funds.com.
2/1/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Using the Sabin Center database, analysis compares climate damage valuation across U.S. and non-U.S. cases, linking damages to deterrence incentives.
4/10/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
IMF researchers, analyzing 178 countries from 1995-2020, find climate-disaster losses increase sovereign default odds and argue adaptation financing reduces fiscal risk.
6/29/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Researchers estimate annual $5.7tn environmental damage from the global top 10% of consumers, emphasizing combined biodiversity and climate policy.
6/18/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Researchers published a 2026 assessment proposing modular, multi-scale economic modeling to address persistent and cross-sectoral climate impacts across local to global scales.
7/31/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Becker Friedman Institute research produced local climate damage estimates across about 25,000 regions and derived a social cost of carbon from marginal CO2 emissions.
6/16/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Economists globally assess climate damages as large and action as urgent after a Nature paper retraction.
2/23/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Institutional investors and UK regulators are expanding climate-risk assessments for potentially irreversible tipping points that could rapidly reprice assets across global portfolios.
8/2/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates extreme weather costs will exceed 20 trillion over the next decade as University of East Anglia research finds human caused warming makes fires more damaging.
6/4/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Marshall Burke and colleagues quantified GDP damages from fossil emissions since 1990 in a Nature study, estimating about $10tn in global harms from US emissions.
3/25/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
International climate economists and officials in 2026 assess whether continued global GDP growth is compatible with Paris Agreement emissions targets and planetary boundaries.
2/9/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
University of Exeter and Carbon Tracker warn in 2026 that GDP-based economic models understate cascading physical climate risks globally, stressing financial and pension vulnerabilities in the UK and beyond.
2/5/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
The Trump administration appointed Matthew Wielicki to lead USGCRP as critics argue the National Climate Assessment needs more actionable climate risk management guidance.
7/22/2026 • Policy, Politics & Governance • General
Additional
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed in 2025 to repeal standardized climate-risk disclosures in the United States as former regulators warned that escalating physical and transition risks could destabilize corporate finances and investment portfolios.
8/18/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
A financial risk paper warns that accelerating warming is increasing physical and transition risks for banks and markets and calls for macroprudential buffers.
6/25/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Sustainable Markets Initiative and partners warn in a report that extreme weather could cost investors $1.3 trillion in near-term losses without improved modeling.
3/26/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
JPMorgan and investors including Standard Life and Allianz Global Investors incorporate climate tipping point risks into financial models as potential abrupt market losses.
7/20/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Steve Keen argues climate-damage studies preserve Nordhaus-style assumptions, limiting modeled impacts and framing losses as future GDP differences.
6/19/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
Bank of England and International Monetary Fund warnings connect concurrent extreme climate events to sovereign debt stress and systemic financial repricing risk.
7/18/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General
CMCC study released July 8 estimates climate change could cut Italy GDP by 2050 and increase sovereign refinancing risks through reduced tax revenues and higher borrowing costs.
7/8/2026 • Economy, Business & Innovation • General