Business leaders, public officials join together on U.S. climate risk committee

Several businesspeople and public officials have joined a new risk committee, conducting an analysis of the economic risks of climate change in the United States.

The new group was formed through the Risky Business initiative, co-chaired and founded in part by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Goldman Sachs head Hank Paulson and environmentalist Tom Steyer.

Launched in October 2013, Risky Business is a year-long effort to quantify and publicize the economic risks the United States faces from the impacts of a changing climate.

“The United States faces unprecedented risks from climate change, and quantifying those risks is a critical first step to mitigating them,” Bloomberg commented in a statement. “These new members of our Risk Committee have deep expertise across different sectors of the American economy, and they will be instrumental in helping us develop the rigorous metrics we need to battle climate change effectively.

“When we launched Risky Business, we knew it was critical to make sure the risk assessment ends up in the hands of the leaders who are best-positioned to take action,” said co-chair Hank Paulson. “With the addition of these new Risk Committee members, we’ll be able to reach deeper into those areas of the American economy that face the greatest risk.”

The risk committee members include:

• Henry Cisneros, Founder & Chairman, CityView Capital; former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); former Mayor of San Antonio, Tex.
• Gregory Page, former CEO and current Chair of the Board of Cargill, Inc.
• Robert Rubin, Co-chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
• George Shultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution; former U.S. Secretary of State; former US Secretary of the Treasury; former U.S. Secretary of Labor; former Director, Office of Management & Budget; former President, Bechtel Group
• Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami; former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; former Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Olympia Snowe, former U.S. Senator representing Maine
• Al Sommer, Dean Emeritus, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

“The committee co-chairs and members will work with an academic Expert Review Panel to review the methodology behind the economic analysis, to ensure the findings are sound, and to deliver strong and effective messages about climate risk to influential audiences across the country,” according to the Risky Business initiative.

“The analysis will focus on quantifying the economic cost of the potential climate futures the U.S. faces, from changes in agricultural production due to heat waves and droughts to damage to coastal property and infrastructure from sea level rise and storm surge.”