The financial stake of losing the reef is high. Florida\u2019s coral reefs<\/a> are estimated to draw in over $1 billion in tourism revenue each year, provide $650 million in flood protection benefits, and support over 70,000 jobs. What\u2019s more, coral reefs protect people and property by dissipating up to 97% of wave energy<\/a>, lessening storm surges.<\/p>\n A new study<\/a> in Nature Climate Change looks at such costs worldwide, estimating the total price of climate-change-related damage to the world\u2019s oceans. The study concludes that accounting for ocean impacts nearly doubles the estimated climate costs to society, known as the social cost of carbon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as with most climate impacts, these costs are unequally borne, most heavily by people in poorer island nations and in other coastal regions like Florida. And as with all climate threats, they are being wholly ignored by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \u2018A missing piece\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Earth\u2019s oceans play a critical and often overlooked role in the health and well-being of people and cultures around the world. The average person consumes nearly one pound of seafood per week<\/a>, which provides important dietary nutrients. Coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests and coral reefs also protect coastal communities against storm surges, a growing threat as a result of rising sea levels and climate-intensified storms.\u00a0<\/p>\n But these benefits, which are threatened by climate change, are difficult to quantify. And when they\u2019re not quantified, they\u2019re left out of experts\u2019 estimates of the damages we incur by burning fossil fuels and releasing climate-warming carbon dioxide \u2013 the social cost of carbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, even when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated the federal estimate of the social cost of carbon<\/a> in 2023 to nearly four times its previous value, the agency noted that this was likely still an \u201cunderestimate [of] the damages associated with increased climate risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Climate impacts in the oceans in particular have been \u201ca big missing piece recognized by every major assessment\u201d of the social cost of carbon, said Bernie Bastien-Olvera, a climate scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in an email. He is the lead author of the new Nature Climate Change study.\u00a0<\/p>\n Climate change\u2019s one-two ocean punch<\/p>\n Human burning of fossil fuels affects Earth\u2019s oceans via the one-two punch of warming and acidifying<\/a> waters, which occurs as carbon dioxide is absorbed into the ocean. The oceans are about 40% more acidic today<\/a> than they were before the Industrial Revolution.<\/p>\n Left: 1850\u20132025 global average sea surface temperature. (Data: UK Met Office Hadley Centre<\/a>. Graphic: Dana Nuccitelli); Right: 1985\u20132024 global average surface seawater pH. (Data: EU Copernicus Marine Service<\/a>. Graphic: Dana Nuccitelli)<\/p>\n The falling pH of the oceans makes it more difficult for certain marine species, like shellfish and coral, to build their shells or skeletons. As a result of this combination of changing pH and heat, there have been four global mass coral bleaching events<\/a> since 1998. These events indicate extreme stress and life-threatening conditions for coral reefs, upon which approximately one-quarter of all marine life relies<\/a> for food, shelter, and breeding grounds.<\/p>\n Read: How climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous<\/a><\/p>\n Island nations \u2018disproportionately threatened\u2019<\/p>\n The new study found that island nations, whose very existence is often threatened by rising sea levels, are \u201cdisproportionately affected\u201d by the impacts of climate change on the oceans.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, about one-third of the world\u2019s tuna catch<\/a> comes from a group of 14 Pacific island nations. Fees associated with tuna fishing access account for about one-third of their government revenue, tuna fishing supports tens of thousands of jobs in the region, and tuna are an important dietary staple in these cultures.\u00a0<\/p>\n But a 2021 study<\/a> led by Conservation International\u2019s Senior Director of Tuna Fisheries Johann Bell estimated that as warming oceans cause tuna to migrate away from this region, catches could be reduced by as much as 20% by 2050. Some Pacific Island coastal communities already \u201chave trouble catching enough coral reef fish for food security,\u201d Bell wrote via email. That\u2019s the result of a combination of ocean warming and acidification, as well as human population growth.<\/p>\n The new Nature Climate Change study found that the loss of omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, iron, and protein from seafood-depleted diets would have significant negative effects on the health of populations that rely on these dietary sources. For example, the authors note that<\/a> \u201ca full intake of omega-3 fatty acids reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases by 7% relative to a diet poor of omega-3 fatty acids.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, these health impacts account for about half the study\u2019s new estimated social cost of carbon from ocean impacts. Most of the rest stems from the loss of corals and mangroves, and the benefits they provide in terms of protecting coastal communities like Florida\u2019s from increasingly severe storm surges, for example.<\/p>\n The Trump EPA buries its head in the eroding sand<\/p>\n Despite the ever-improving understanding of the immense damages associated with unabated climate change, the EPA in 2026 has strayed even further from evidence-based reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although federal agencies are required by law to consider the costs and benefits of proposed regulations, the Trump EPA reportedly plans<\/a> to stop assessing gains resulting from the health benefits of its air pollution rules. And the agency continues to move forward with its efforts to dismantle federal climate pollution regulations<\/a> altogether, effectively treating the social cost of carbon as $0, compared to the nearly $400 per ton that would result from the combination of the EPA\u2019s 2023 estimate<\/a> and the new study\u2019s estimated ocean damage costs to society.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-11-1024x744.png\")
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