Climate change health costs to top $100B by mid-century: report

A report by a federally funded research group says climate change will add more than $100 billion to Canada’s health-care costs by mid-century.

The Canadian Institute for Climate Choices says effects on health are likely to be heaviest among those who are already disadvantaged.

Report author Ryan Ness says the biggest cost — $86 billion — is likely to be caused by declining air quality.

Ness says increasing temperatures are expected to result in more ground-level ozone, a gas that helps create smog.

He adds that studies from the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., show that events related to climate change can also have major mental-health effects that could cost billions by 2050.

The study suggests that the poor, the old or those in fragile health are likely to be the least resilient to climate change.