Is your company losing money because of climate change? Consider moving to the Midwest, study finds – Inside Climate News

The Midwest is once again being looked at as a potential refuge from the threat of climate change, which continues to cause increasingly devastating natural disasters around the world.

In the United States, insurance premiums have soared in states such as California and Florida due to devastating wildfires and hurricanes, with some residents recently reporting paying as much as $3,000 a month for home insurance. . Rising prices and the threat of extreme weather have led people to uproot their livelihoods and move elsewhere, often to the Midwest.

A new study conducted in Michigan suggests that companies may also be looking to America’s heartland to set up shop to reduce rising costs related to global warming. are.

“The evidence for climate change is at an all-time high,” said Scott Thomsen, CEO of Michigan-based window manufacturer Luxwall. “We certainly see that in our industry.”

Thomsen was one of 300 senior executives interviewed in a study released Sept. 30 by MIT Technology Review Insights and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Executives from 14 industries, including retail, financial services and manufacturing, all reported that their companies are being harmed to some extent by climate change. These losses include property damage, increased operating costs, increased insurance premiums, and supply chain disruption.

Three-quarters of survey respondents said their company had considered relocating due to climate change risks, and nearly a quarter said they had already relocated in part due to climate change. About 6% said they plan to relocate their business within the next five years.

Nearly half of survey participants also believe the Midwest is the most vulnerable region in the country when it comes to climate risks.

Avoiding exposure to these risks is one reason Laxwall chose to call Michigan home, Thomsen said. Founded in 2016, the company considered six Midwestern states for its headquarters before settling on Ypsilanti. The company opened a second factory in August in the town of Litchfield, Michigan, and is planning another in Detroit.

“We’re really fortunate in most ways,” said Hilary Do, Michigan’s chief growth officer and director of marketing for MEDC. “Michigan ranks as the best state for climate change when you factor in things like drought, heatwaves, wildfires and flooding.”

“The evidence of climate change is growing like a crescendo, and we certainly see that in our industry.”

Scott Thomsen, CEO of Luxwall

Doe said “some of the key reasons” companies end up choosing Michigan are the state’s rich natural resources, relatively resilient power grid, and the state’s ability to help companies access climate-related benefits. and the support Michigan is providing businesses in planning for climate change risks. Funding.

Catalina Valencia, executive director of business development for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, said Minnesota has seen an increase in business activity in recent years as companies look to expand.

According to Valencia, this trend is especially true for large-scale projects. While a $75 million project would have been considered significant a few years ago, the state now approves several projects each year with construction costs ranging from $100 million to $300 million, and in some cases more than $1 billion. Some projects cost more than a dollar, she said. .

Although Valencia considers climate risks when companies choose to locate in Minnesota, the biggest factor in attracting new business to the state is the bipartisan infrastructure law, anti-inflation legislation, and other He pointed out that it was a federal investment. Last year, the state Legislature passed a bill that would provide matching state funding to projects that receive federal funds.

As climate change accelerates in the coming decades, Valencia and Doe expect more companies to flock to the state. “Unfortunately, Minnesota may be one of the states best positioned for the future, not just now, but even more so in the future,” Valencia said.

The Midwest is often referred to as a “climate paradise,” in part because of its relatively mild climate and proximity to the Great Lakes, which contain one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. This resource is expected to become increasingly rare, according to scientists. The earth is warming. The Great Lakes also serve as an alternative shipping port from the United States, as increasingly powerful hurricanes make it difficult to transport goods from the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

According to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a federal report on how climate change is impacting the United States, extreme weather events cost the United States nearly $150 billion in damages, lost business revenue, and decreased real estate values ​​each year. etc. have suffered damage. Natural disasters resulting in losses of more than $1 billion now occur on average every three weeks, compared to every four months in the 1980s, the assessment said.

Crews continued to clear debris and shovel mud along the East Coast from Florida to North Carolina over the weekend after Hurricane Helen left at least 232 people dead and hundreds of thousands without power. . Florida is currently preparing for a second storm, Hurricane Milton, which is expected to reach Category 3 or higher strength and make landfall near Tampa later this week.

Helen, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm two weeks ago, has flooded six southeastern states and is now the deadliest storm in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Historically warm seawater supercharged Helen, allowing it to release large amounts of water. While heading north.

Three scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducted a rapid analysis and said Helen’s rainfall bears the signatures of climate change.

“Our best estimate is that during Hurricane Helen, rainfall increased by more than 50% in some areas of Georgia and the Carolinas due to climate change,” one of the scientists, Michael Wehner, said in an online statement. ”, it said in an online statement. “We estimate that due to global warming, observed rainfall has become up to 20 times more likely in these regions.”