Climate-related impacts are considered by many to pose risks to various environmental and economic systems — including agriculture, infrastructure, ecosystems, and human health — and can present financial risks to various sectors, including businesses and the federal government. According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s National Climate Assessment and the National Research Council of the National Academies, the physical impacts from a changing climate are already evident in many sectors and are expected to become increasingly disruptive throughout this century and beyond. Impacts may include inundation of land and coastal areas from rising sea levels, altered agricultural productivity due to different temperature or precipitation patterns and increased intensity and frequency of severe weather events. … In our February 2015 high-risk update, we found that the federal government faces fiscal exposure from climate-related risks in various areas, including in its role as the owner or operator of extensive infrastructure and as the insurer of property and crops vulnerable to climate-related impacts. In addition, according to the President’s 2012 National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security, the global competitiveness of the United States depends in part on managing supply chain risks, which include climate-related risks. … Two important federal insurance efforts — the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation — face climate-related risks. … =The NFIP is a key component of the federal government’s efforts to limit the damage and financial cost of floods. However, it likely will not generate sufficient revenues to repay the billions of dollars borrowed from the Department of the Treasury to cover claims from the 2005 and 2012 hurricanes. The flood insurance program is intentionally not actuarially sound because, among other things, Congress authorized subsidized insurance rates to be made available for policies covering certain structures. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) owed the Treasury $23 billion, up from $20 billion as of November 2012. FEMA made a $1 billion principal repayment at the end of December 2014 — FEMA’s first such payment since 2010. =The cost of the federal crop insurance program grew significantly from 2003 to 2012. The cost averaged $3.4 billion a year for fiscal years 2003 through 2007, but it increased to $8.4 billion a year for fiscal years 2008 through 2012. Federally subsidized crop insurance has become one of the most important programs to help farmers manage the risks inherent to farming. These comments are from the GAO report, “Preparing for Climate-Related Risks: Lessons from the Private Sector.” Source - http://www.missourifarmertoday.com