Experts say Australia's intergenerational report understates climate change risks
Academics criticize the government's seventh intergenerational report for calling the economic and social effects of climate change by 2066 'highly uncertain'.
Australia's latest intergenerational report, a government snapshot projecting the country's economic and social outlook out to 2066, has been criticized by experts for underplaying the scale of damage expected from the worsening climate crisis.
The report, the seventh in a series produced periodically by the government, finds that the effects of global heating four decades from now are "highly uncertain," pointing to the pace of the global energy transition as a key source of that unpredictability.
According to academics cited in response to the report, this framing risks downplaying real and foreseeable economic costs. One academic said the report's approach to 2066 projections "is negligent in ignoring the economic damage" that is expected to materialize on the horizon as climate impacts accumulate.
Intergenerational reports are designed to give policymakers and the public a long-term view of pressures on the economy, government budgets and society, covering factors such as population change, workforce trends and fiscal sustainability alongside emerging risks like climate change.
The criticism reflects a broader debate among economists and climate researchers over how confidently long-range government forecasts should quantify climate-related economic damage, versus treating future outcomes as too uncertain to project with precision. The report's characterization of climate effects as highly uncertain, rather than as a quantified central risk, is at the center of that disagreement.
Sources
- Intergenerational report underplays effect of climate crisis on Australia’s future, experts say — The Guardian — World
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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