A new analysis of 4,000 climate-related extreme weather events has put the worldwide cost over the past decade at $2 trillion. The US sustained the largest economic loss, according to the report commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce, at $935 billion. China was second at $268 billion in losses over 10 years. The estimates cover the total cost of violent weather, the Guardian reports, rather than only events that can be tied to climate change. The ICC suggested the findings push the Cop29 climate summit, which began Monday in Azerbaijan, to take action.
The summit is to wrestle with setting amounts that wealthy countries should pay to help poor countries deal with the damage and adapt to the increasingly violent weather. A study released last month found that more than half of the 68,000 heat deaths in Europe in summer 2022 were caused by climate breakdown. An ICC official said the matter is urgent. "The data from the past decade shows definitively that climate change is not a future problem," said John Denton. "Major productivity losses from extreme weather events are being felt in the here and now by the real economy."
The costs of extreme weather—including flash flooding, hurricanes, and fires—increased gradually between 2014 and 2023, the report says, as fossil fuel pollution has turned up the temperature. The toll amounted to $451 billion in the past two years alone, per the Guardian. Poor countries are hit hardest. The ICC called for quick action to help countries financially that need it to reduce pollution and make changes to better handle extreme weather. "Financing climate action in the developing world shouldn't be seen as an act of generosity by the leaders of the world's richest economies," Denton said, adding that the money is an investment in a more resilient global economy. (More climate change stories.)
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