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Our economy relies on safe and reliable infrastructure, a healthy workforce, stable supply chains, and dependable natural resources and healthy natural systems. Each of these elements of a sound economy are impacted by climate change and are specifically threatened by climate impacts that we are already experiencing in California. Through this Strategy, the state is committed to equity-centered actions that ensure that all Californians enjoy the benefits of a resilient economy. By pursuing equity in its economic resilience efforts, the state will affirm and maintain California’s status as a place of opportunity and innovation.
Increasingly, we are improving our understanding of the economic impacts of climate change. For example, the cost of removing hazardous materials from properties in the town of Paradise after the Camp Fire in 2018 cost the California state government over $2 billion. Such costs demonstrate the need for up-front investment to reduce the long-term fiscal impacts of climate-driven disasters.
Well-established estimates used in the United States suggest that that on average every $1 invested in proactive efforts to reduce climate risk avoids at least $6 in in future costs to respond to such risks. For example, proactive investments that protect communities from wildfires not only protect California’s residents but help reduce the long-term costs of wildfire recovery. Proactive adaptation and resilience measures are sound economic and fiscal investments.
Other examples of proactive resilience measures include investments in public health systems and community resilience, supporting climate-smart businesses, protecting workers vulnerable to climate impacts, wetland restoration, forest management, and climate resilient infrastructure. These types of projects, coupled with the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and carbon sequestration, as well as clean technology innovation and deployment, present new job and business opportunities. Importantly, these economic opportunities require diverse skillsets, engaging numerous sectors of California’s economy in climate solutions. Preserving and creating jobs and business opportunities in a clean, resilient, and inclusive economy will bolster quality of life and support economic mobility for Californians.