Unpublished Gov Report Reveals "Intense And Scary" Climate Risks To Australia's Environment & Economy

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The delayed report – the national climate risk assessment – includes modelling of future climate damage, estimates of the number of people who could be killed by worsening heatwaves and a mapping tool that forecasts flooding risk in suburbs across the continent. Developed by the Australian Climate Service and the climate change department, it was delayed until after the May election along with other Labor climate documents, including a 2035 emissions reduction target and a climate adaptation plan. The government is expected to release them within weeks – the 2035 target is due by September – but dates have not been confirmed.

Sources who have seen drafts of the risk assessment said it included scenarios that showed the climate crisis would affect all Australians, including in ways that to date have been little discussed in political debate. The analysis considered the climate impact on eight systems: defence and national security; the economy, trade and finance; First Nations values and knowledge; health and social support; infrastructure and built environments; the natural environment; primary industries and food and regional; and remote communities.

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The report is a major focus for institutional investors working out where to direct trillions of dollars. The executive director for policy at the Investor Group on Climate Change, Francesca Muskovic, said investors were already seeing physical climate damage and disruption to the economy, and were aware governments could not fund the response on their own. Muskovic said the commonwealth was already spending $1.6bn a year on disaster recovery, but budgeting only $215m. “This is now a predictable recurring cost and we need to think about how we better invest in preventive, risk reduction measures that reduce the recovery cost down the track,” she said.

She said the key to increasing private investment was “getting an accurate and comprehensive picture of where the risks are, and where the investment is most needed”. The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, called on the government to release the risk assessment as a prelude to setting a “strong, science-based” emissions reduction target for 2035, describing it as “an explosive document that they’ve been burying for over a year”. “The Australian public have a right to know what’s in store for us,” she said. “We need the release of that climate report so that everyone can see what potential future lies [ahead] if our government keeps kissing the hand of coal and gas companies.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/12/risks-of-climate-crisis-to-australias-economy-and-environment-are-intense-and-scary-unreleased-government-report-says