NU Online News Service, Oct. 22, 2:47 p.m. EDT

Increasing risk factors along the Gulf Coast, including climate change and continued economic development in disaster-prone areas, could cost communities more than $350 billion in economic losses over the next 20 years, a new study claims.

The study released by Energy Corporation examined the economics of climate adaptation along the U.S. Gulf Coast, accounting for assets across the coast in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Global reinsurer Swiss Re was a lead contributor to the study's research.

The study found that wind and storm surge damage already amounts to an average of $14 billion per year in the region. But severe climate change, economic growth and land subsidence "could drive up expected annual losses by up to 65 percent to an average of $23.4 billion [per year] by 2030."

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