Vijay Limaye Speaks at US Senate Spotlight Forum on the Costs of Climate Change

Thursday, March 26, 2026 10AM ET

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), and U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hosted a spotlight forum with Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and experts on the many ways climate change is driving the affordability crisis facing working American families from home insurance to grocery prices and health care costs.

Witnesses included Dr. Kim Clausing, the Eric M. Zolt Chair in Tax Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law; Dr. Vijay Limaye, Senior Scientist and Director of Climate and Health at the Natural Resources Defense Council; Dr. Andrew Pershing, Chief Program Officer at Climate Central; and Andreanecia Morris, Executive Director of HousingNOLA. Dr. Limaye focused on how climate change is making us sicker and costing us more both individually and as a nation.

DR. VIJAY LIMAYE: “Behind the headlines on climate disasters happening across the country, there’s a largely invisible story about the ways in which climate chaos is making us sicker as a nation.  The deaths, illnesses, and injuries linked to climate change are a costly and growing economic problem that we must address.  Our research shows that these financial costs are not only a future concern, they are already burdening American households - no matter what kind of insurance they have.  At its core, the climate problem is a human health emergency because we all rely on clean air and a safe, stable climate to stay healthy.  Fossil fuels are a costly burden on both of these health fronts.  Across the country, burning of coal, oil, and fossil gas generates deadly air pollution that causes people’s arteries to harden, deposits carcinogens in their lungs, and damages their brains.  These health damages have substantial costs: our research estimates more than $800 billion in annual health-related damages from death and disease amongst the American population caused by air pollution.”

The entire event was recorded and published to YouTube.

You can hear Dr. Limaye speak at 26:55, 50:00, and 1:23:00.