Petrochemical Sites on Texas’ Gulf Coast Face Massive, Costly Risk This Decade From Climate-Driven Extreme Weather

Inaction today will be costly tomorrow, because direct damages balloon by 3 to 8 times in the coming decade.

The US petrochemical industry across the Gulf Coast is increasingly exposed to multi-billion-dollar threats from severe weather driven by climate change. Petrochemical infrastructure includes assets with multi-decadal lifetimes; the close proximity of these assets to bodies of water for transportation, supply chain, and cooling considerations now poses a serious risk from climate impacts such as sea level rise and shifting precipitation patterns.

Jupiter’s analysis of three major petrochemical facilities located on the Texas Gulf Coast near Houston reveals that all three are highly vulnerable to extreme flooding from storm surge, sea-level rise, and prolonged precipitation caused by climate change. The study concludes that the costs of climate-related risk could rise by as much as 800 percent by 2030.