Over the past decade, violent weather events have inflicted a staggering $2 trillion cost on the global economy, with a particularly high toll in the last two years.
A report analyzing 4,000 climate-related extreme weather incidents, ranging from sudden flash floods to prolonged droughts, highlights the deep economic damage caused by these events.
In just the past two years, losses have reached $451 billion.
This report, which highlights the economic impact of extreme weather, underlines that the consequences of climate change are not a distant threat but a current reality.
John Denton, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which commissioned the report, emphasized that the escalating economic damage from climate disasters is being felt in real-time.
As climate breakdown intensifies, these weather events are disrupting productivity and causing significant financial losses worldwide.
Developing countries face the heaviest impacts of climate change, with urgent financial support needed.The analysis shows a gradual rise in extreme weather costs between 2014 and 2023, peaking in 2017 when a particularly active hurricane season devastated North America.
The United States bore the largest economic losses, totaling $935 billion, followed by China at $268 billion, and India at $112 billion.
However, when considering the losses on a per capita basis, small islands like Saint Martin and the Bahamas faced the most significant damages.
The effects of extreme weather are expected to worsen, as more people settle in disaster-prone regions, and fossil fuel-driven pollution continues to heat the planet.
Recent studies have also shown that human-driven climate change played a significant role in amplifying extreme weather events, such as the deadly European heatwave in 2022.
Ilan Noy, a disaster economist, pointed out that while the report’s numbers are aligned with previous studies, they do not fully capture the impact on vulnerable communities, particularly in lower-income countries where the effects are often devastating.
The ICC has called for faster action and increased financial support for developing countries to mitigate the effects of climate change and build more resilient infrastructures.
As global leaders prepare for the COP29 summit, the urgency to tackle climate change and finance adaptation strategies has never been more critical.
Climate action, especially in vulnerable regions, is not just an act of charity but a necessary investment for a more resilient global economy.