The economic costs of BC’s extreme weather in 2021
BC’s severe climate events in 2021 cost the province’s economy billions more than widely reported estimates.
This new report, undertaken by the CCPA–BC in partnership with Vancity, provides a first-ever estimate of the total economic costs associated with the 2021 heat dome, wildfires, floods and landslides, beyond the typical focus on insured damages to property and cleanup costs to governments. The study finds the total costs to be between $10.6 billion and $17.1 billion.
The estimates include lost income for workers due to business closures, lost productivity, and specific impacts on communities, particularly to the vulnerable and marginalized.
Attachments
Summary Report: A Climate Reckoning
About the authors
Marc Lee
Marc Lee is a Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Marc joined the CCPA’s British Columbia office in 1998, and is one of Canada’s leading progressive commentators on economic and environmental policy issues. From 2009 to 2015, Marc led the CCPA’s Climate Justice Project (CJP), which published a wide range of research on fair and effective approaches to climate action through integrating principles of social justice. Marc continues to write about climate and energy policy, strategies for affordable housing, federal and provincial budgets and macroeconomics. Marc has an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Marc is a past chair of the Progressive Economics Forum, a national network of heterodox economists. He also served as a Visiting Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy in 2024 to 2025.
Ben Parfitt
Ben was a resource policy analyst at the CCPA-BC.
