The Impacts of Wildfires on the Economy

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There's no silver bullet, but we can look at the reasons for these changes. European forest management and settlement colonization has brought a timber focus to forest management. We've valued coniferous tree species over broadleaf species like Aspen and birch or maple. This is now coming to haunt us as climate change makes it more difficult to defend landscapes against wildfires.

Earlier in June 2023, a series of wildfires across Quebec, Canada blanketed eastern North America in smoke. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we speak to three scientists about how climate change is exacerbating hazards like these wildfires, and to understand how an event like this impacts health, business and the economy.

We talk to Werner Kurz, senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, about how wildfires can impact net-zero goals.

We speak with Terry Thompson, Chief Climate Scientist at the Climate Center of Excellence at S&P Global Sustainable1. He talks to us about the financial impacts of wildfires.

And to understand the health impacts of climate change broadly and wildfires specifically, we interview Sarah Henderson, Scientific Director of Environmental Health Services at Canada’s British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, and at the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health.

Photo source: Getty Images

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