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The future of trading is fast, powerful, and precise. Experience it now on Robinhood Legend. Sign up today. Investing is risky. Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer. Other fees may apply. An attempt to figure the costs of climate change down to the Exxon, Shell, or Chevron level...
I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Scientists say they've come up with a way to measure how much liability individual corporations would have for the economic damage caused by climate change. The total cost over decades is calculated at $28 trillion, about the size of the U.S. economy, the whole thing, in a year, with researchers saying 10 fossil fuel companies are responsible for more than half of that amount. Marketplace's Nova Safo is here with the details.
Interesting new study, David. It comes from a research team at Dartmouth College published in the journal Nature. Researchers say they've developed a computer modeling technique to figure out how much of the heating up of the Earth's atmosphere various major corporations are responsible for. Now, they looked at 111 companies and
And this is a backwards-looking effort, looking at figures up until 2020. So the numbers are still going up because the Earth's atmosphere continues to warm. Determining responsibility to do what? Sue companies, right?
Well, that's one of the study's authors' very plainly put goal. This is about lawsuits helping courts evaluate liability claims for losses resulting from climate change and weather-related disasters. And that concept is a global phenomenon. Here in the U.S., Vermont last year passed a law trying to hold companies accountable for weather disasters like extreme flooding. We've also seen a farmer lawsuit in Peru, San Francisco.
in total around the world, mostly targeting fossil fuel companies. And that's according to one research group that's been keeping track of the lawsuits. And what the study's authors say is that they now have a lot more data to
to help in determining liability in those lawsuits. Because we have a historical record of emissions, and we now have a robust climate data going back several decades, put those together, and that's how they've come up with this new model. Other climate scientists who looked at the new study, David, say it is a step forward in determining liability. My colleague, Nova Safo, thank you. Turning now to the Federal Reserve's not-so-zestily-named Beige Book,
This is the 12 Federal Reserve Bank regions doing fieldwork, asking businesses, how's it going? It finds the economy still ticking along under some gathering clouds. Diane Swonk is chief economist at the audit tax and advisory firm KPMG.
It shows that the economy is in transition and storm calls are sort of forming in some areas. But yeah, the economy is still moving forward, according to the Beige Book. What was interesting in it was how much uncertainty there was. A lot of comments about some tariffs pushing up prices in the production line and in the pipeline. The question is, you know, what's going to show up on consumer shelves? Not quite there yet. It's still too early.
But also the hesitation on hiring. That was sort of something that really struck me was that many firms were talking about waiting to see what would happen with the trade wars before they staffed up or made layoff decisions as well. So you sort of get this sense of caught in a trade war purgatory. Economist Diane Swonk with us every Thursday.
The plans are under development to rebuild Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge by October 2028. That's the one that got hit by the cargo ship last year. To do that work, Baltimore will need a lot of tradespeople, including those who know how to melt metal together. With more than a fifth of welders in the U.S. over the age of 55, the need for people with these skills will rise in the coming years.
Now, the Community College of Baltimore County wants to train people who know their way around MIG or TIG. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes reports. Welding instructor Josh Dykus commands everyone's attention as he demonstrates a new technique. I'm going to do a nice steady drag the whole way down. Go ahead and go dark. The dozen or so students in this fundamentals class just outside Baltimore all go dark. That is, pull their welding masks down over their eyes.
They watched Dicus drag an electrode along another piece of metal, melting both. Any questions?
This lesson is at Erlbeck Gases and Technologies. It's a welding supply company that partners with the Community College of Baltimore County. The students go into booths and start working. Once you get some welds down, let me or Mr. Bill take a look at it. One student, 20-year-old Hunter Lilick, isn't happy with his first attempt. I already know I ran too fast. Lilick says learning to weld can be scary. In an earlier class, he held his torch too close to the metal, and sparks went everywhere.
Lilac, maybe appropriately, is wearing a heavy metal band t-shirt under his flame-retardant jacket. He says he's here because he wants to work with his hands, and he thinks welding looks really cool. He's hoping to get work preparing ships or building the new key bridge.
Instructor Josh Dykus says welders have to be willing to work in a variety of conditions. Outside in the middle of summertime, in the middle of wintertime, things like pipe welding, iron working, you're working at heights, working in confined spaces and confined areas. And it can be dangerous. Dykus, who's 32, has had three of his fingertips cut off and reattached, plus a couple of herniated back discs and more burns than he can keep track of.
He emphasizes safety to his students. You know, working in the trades, hands, eyes, back, those are your big things that you really want to take care of. Pay for welders varies based on skill level, job type, and location. Nationally, the median salary is about $56,000. And some people who've been welding for years are using this class to level up. These guys can all learn pretty good about being the old man, but that's all right. I've learned it.
Brad Austin is 63 and works in utilities. His employer, Baltimore County, is footing the bill for him and a few coworkers to be here. This class usually costs about $2,000. Austin says he learned to weld growing up on a farm, and this is his first formal training. Just knowing, you know, the principles behind it and correcting things
Probably 50 years of bad habits is very useful. Austin calls himself a jack-of-all-trades. He hopes taking this class for beginners will get him closer to mastering this one.
In Baltimore, I'm Stephanie Hughes for Marketplace. And the head of the International Monetary Fund today urged countries to move swiftly to resolve trade disputes she sees as threatening global economic growth. The IMF managing director says the unpredictability arising from U.S. import taxes and responses from China and beyond is, quote, bad for business. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning Report. From APM, American Public Media.
If there's one thing we know about social media, it's that misinformation is everywhere, especially when it comes to personal finance. Financially Inclined from Marketplace is a podcast you can trust to help you get serious about your money so you can build a life you've always dreamed of.
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