On Tuesday, Oct. 31, PennFuture commemorated the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy by hosting a statewide telepresser exploring the relationship between climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events.

Larry J. Schweiger, President Emeritus, and Rob Altenburg, Director of the PennFuture Energy Center, discussed the climate impacts of governmental inaction as well as the enormous costs that taxpayers bear in the wake of increasingly severe weather events.

During the call, Schweiger addressed the combination of massive and widespread damage from this season’s hurricanes, along with the California wildfires that were exacerbated by a warmer climate, and caused FEMA and other governmental emergency response groups to be strained financially and operationally.

Schweiger highlighted that over the past decade, the government has spent $350 billion responding to extreme weather and fire events, made worse by climate change, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Additionally, as regulations are rolled back and our climate response is effectively halted, the cost of these storms will only increase.

Altenburg provided his expertise around environmental, climate, and energy policy that are essential to advancing clean energy solutions for Pennsylvania, and highlighted recent work in the state to improve our energy profile and move us towards a renewable future.

Altenburg  also gave updates on the state of solar in PA and pointed to the Finding PA’s Solar Future project as an ongoing effort by PennFuture to find a pathway to achieving 10 percent of our in-state generation from solar power by 2030.

Thank you to our speakers and to all who attended. You can find the recording for the event below.