1. United States
2. Mont.
3. Letter

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. 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.