Thread: Any doubts about Climate Change?

Climate disasters cost world billions in 2021

10 of 2021's most extreme weather events were driven by climate change and caused a total of $170.3 billion in damages — with the deadly Hurricane Ida that struck the U.S. the most costly, per a new study.

Why it matters: Each of the 10 most destructive weather events caused over $1.5 billion damage, with Ida costing $65 billion, according to the study by U.K. charity Christian Aid.

• "Most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be even higher," per a statement published Monday by accompanying the study.
• The study notes that insurer Aon has warned that 2021 is set to be the sixth time global natural catastrophes have cost more than $100 billion — with all six occurring since 2011.

What else they found: The report notes that financial costs are usually higher in richer countries because they have higher property values and can afford insurance.

• But some of the most devastating extreme weather events in 2021 hit poorer nations.
• These extreme weather events have caused severe human suffering from food insecurity, drought and extreme weather events causing mass displacements and loss of life, the report notes.

What they're saying: "The costs of climate change have been grave this year, both in terms of eyewatering financial losses but also in the death and displacement of people around the world," said report author Kat Kramer, Christian Aid's climate policy lead, in a statement.

• "Be it storms and floods in some of the world's richest countries or droughts and heatwaves in some of the poorest, the climate crisis hit hard in 2021."

By the numbers: 2021's most costly weather events, according to Christian Aid:

1. Hurricane Ida — $65 billion.
2. European floods — $43 billion.
3. Texas winter storm —$23 billion.
4. Henan floods (China) — $17.6 billion.
5. British Columbia floods — $7.5 billion.
6. France's "cold wave" — $5.6 billion.
7. Cyclone Yaas (India, Bangladesh) — $3 billion
8. Australian floods — $2.1 billion.
9. Typhoon In-fa (China, Philippines, Japan) — $2 billion.
10. Cyclone Tauktae (India, Sri Lanka, Maldives) — $1.5billion.

The big picture: Extreme weather events are the clearest way we're feeling climate change in our daily lives — and this year's ones are a preview of even more turbulent times, Axios' Andrew Freedman and Kia Kokalitcheva note.

• A study by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this year found an "unequivocal" connection between human-caused global warming and extreme weather.

Worth noting: The National Intelligence Council of the U.S. warned in a November report that 11 countries faced grave instabilities due to climate change: Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Nicaragua, North Korea and Pakistan.

• "Diminished energy, food and water security in the 11 countries probably will exacerbate poverty, tribal or ethnic intercommunal tensions and dissatisfaction with governments, increasing the risk of social, economic, and political instability," the report notes.

The bottom line: The COP26 climate summit in Glasgow "generated plenty of headlines, but without concrete emissions cuts and financial support the world will continue to suffer," Christian Aid's report states.

• "One glaring omission from the outcome in Glasgow was a fund to deal with the permanent loss and damage caused by climate change," the study adds. "This is one issue which will need to be addressed at COP27 in Egypt in 2022."
• Kramer noted "it is clear that the world is not on track to ensure a safe and prosperous" future.

https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...mate-breakdown

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