Washington, DC — As summer turns up the temperature in states below the Mason-Dixon line, low-income residents there brace for extreme heat and weather exacerbated by climate change. 

CEPR’s new analysis by Algernon Austin shows that extreme weather and natural disasters disproportionately harm low-income Southerners. They also live in states where governors are doing little to institute policies that remediate the impact of climate change.

“Although Southerners are being harmed more by climate change, Southern governors are not rising to the challenge,” said Austin. “Protective policies are needed, but many Southern governors support policies that will increase greenhouse gas emissions and deepen the problem.