Climate change isn't a political debate, it's a risk assessment, according to a report released Thursday on how climate change affects the U.S. economy.
The Risky Business report was organized by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent; former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, a Republican; and former senior managing member of Farallon Capital Management Tom Steyer, a Democrat.
"If you invest in real estate, commodities, municipal or corporate bonds, these risks matter to you," Bloomberg said in a video on the report's website. "Unless we get serious about managing the risks of climate change, we're likely to see more severe losses in the future."
It was a different sort of appeal -- one that Greg Page, Cargill Inc.'s executive chairman, signed onto as a member of the report's risk committee.
"We don't need to agree is this man-made, long-term climate change," Page said in a video. "What we do need to agree is in the past 40 years, we have seen phenomena in our area, in our experience, that cause us to say, 'If we need to change, can we? If we need to change how are we going about that?'"
In Arkansas, crop yields could decrease up to 32 percent or increase up to 3 percent between 2040 and 2059, the report states. Between 2080 and 2099, crop yields could decrease by a range of 12 percent to 71 percent, according to the report.
"We need to all bear in mind, the findings aren't statements of facts or of certainty, they are statements of risks and of probabilities," Page said.
Marty Matlock, a professor at the department of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said there are winners and losers when it comes to climate change.
"Climate change means more extremes: hotter hots, colder colds, wetter wets and dryer drys," he said.
Farmers who have enough water to irrigate benefit from longer growing seasons, but farmers without that access could experience longer droughts, he said.
"Farmers are all concerned because they've experienced it," Matlock said. "But they're resilient. They know how to make things work."
Pete Stoddart, a Cargill spokesman, said the company is engaged in conservation projects around the globe.
Cargill beef-processing plants in the United States reclaim methane from wastewater to use as fuel. The technology reduces the plants' intake of natural gas by 20 percent to 25 percent.
To help farmers use resources more efficiently, Cargill is helping them track water, land and energy use, soil conservation and climate impact. The company voluntarily reports its greenhouse-gas output as a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project.
"At this point, the rate of change in the weather that we experience across the globe as we attempt to grow the world's food has been manageable in terms of improved technology, improved agronomic practices, improved infrastructure and logistics," Page said.
Business on 06/27/2014