Make Congress Count the Cost of Climate Inaction

August wasn't just hot. It was the hottest August ever recorded.

Scientists with Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service report that August 2026 was the warmest August on record and effectively tied for the hottest month ever measured. Global temperatures averaged a staggering 1.65 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The oceans were scorching, too. Sea surface temperatures outside the polar regions reached their highest level ever recorded for August.

And while the planet keeps breaking heat records, opponents of climate action keep asking the same question: What will cutting pollution cost?

It's time Congress asked a different one: What is failing to act already costing us?

We already know the bill is enormous. The federal government's Fifth National Climate Assessment estimates that extreme events cost the United States close to $150 billion each year — and calls that a conservative estimate because it doesn't include losses such as lives, health care costs or damage to ecosystems.

Now a Georgia lawmaker is pushing an idea that could put those costs front and center. State House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley plans to introduce legislation assessing the economic and public-health impacts of climate change on Georgians, including where those costs are falling and which communities are bearing them.

Congress should do the same for the entire country.

Federal law already requires a National Climate Assessment at least every four years. But that sprawling report examines climate change broadly — from the latest science and risks to impacts on communities, ecosystems and the economy. Congress should build on that work with something more focused: a clear, regularly updated Climate Cost of Inaction report dedicated to showing what climate change is costing Americans in dollars and health, how those costs could grow, and which communities and sectors are paying the biggest price.

We don't need another report telling us that climate change is real. We need a running tally of what failing to confront it is costing us.

For decades, fossil fuel interests and their political allies have warned Americans about the supposed price of climate action. Meanwhile, the bill for climate inaction keeps getting bigger.

Another record-hot month should make one thing painfully clear: Doing too little isn't free. Please sign the petition to ask Congress to require a national Climate Cost of Inaction report.

The petition to Congress reads: Require federal agencies to produce and regularly update a national Climate Cost of Inaction report, building on the National Climate Assessment and existing federal data. Americans deserve to know what climate change is already costing us, how those costs could grow, who is bearing the greatest burdens — and what we stand to save by acting now.

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Sources:

https://www.wrbl.com/news/georgia-house-minority-leader-calls-for-climate-change-impact-assessment-in-columbus/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93vde0n2l4o