As ecological political economists, we are concerned not just with how rising costs impact people’s wallets, but also with how it might have spin-off effects in areas such as social inequality, political radicalization, geopolitical instability and environmental degradation. Weather extremes are incurring tremendous costs, from rising public health costs and productivity losses associated with severe wildfires and heatwaves to rising grocery prices for climate-vulnerable crops because of agricultural failures. Yet the direct effects of climate change and our failure to get off fossil fuels are not the only forces influencing costs.