Global economic alarm: Climate disasters cost trillions
In 2022 and 2023, economic damages caused by extreme weather events reached CAD 628 billion. An international business organization highlighted a disaster counter. The costs to the global economy are already reaching trillions of dollars. CNN refers to this as a "shadow financial crisis."
A new report from the International Chamber of Commerce has emerged as a warning signal about climate change and natural disasters. The report's authors estimate that economic damages from disasters recently experienced in various regions worldwide amount to trillions of dollars. Trillions with a "t".
According to the Chamber's estimates, from 2014 to 2023, the total cost of damages caused by climate-related extreme weather events worldwide was approximately CAD 2.8 trillion. As CNN notes, this is roughly equivalent to the economic losses associated with the global financial crisis of 2008.
The authors of the report examined about 4,000 weather events across six continents over the past decade. They estimated losses from the destruction of houses, businesses, and infrastructure, as well as the impact of extreme weather conditions on human productivity.
They found that approximately 1.6 billion people have been affected by these extreme weather events. They emphasize that this is just the beginning and will only intensify these phenomena. According to the organization, from 1980-1999 to 2000-2019, there was an 83% increase in the number of recorded climate-related disasters.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a non-governmental organization representing companies and chambers of commerce. It is the largest organization of its kind in the world.
Why did it address the issue of climate change? Because - as its representatives explain - it is high time to urge governments and businesses to accelerate policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This process is moving too slowly.
Just as the global financial crisis was met with a swift and concerted response from world leaders, we need governments to understand that the economic impact of climate change necessitates a response of similar speed and decisiveness - said CNN's John W.H. Denton, Secretary General of ICC.
Donald Trump will continue anti-climate policy
The American station notes that the Chamber's report was published less than a week after Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential elections. In recent years, Trump not only failed to recognize the severity of the problem concerning the effects of climate change and the dynamics of these changes, but he also reversed and withdrew from pro-climate solutions introduced by his predecessors. He became infamous for stating that it is good that sea levels are rising because there will be more beachfront properties.
Now he has promised to repeal climate regulations, including limits on emissions from vehicles and power plants. During his last term, he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, arguing that it imposes unfair economic burdens on Americans, as CNN reminds.
- The data from the past decade shows definitively that climate change is not a future problem: the productivity losses from extreme weather events are being felt in the here and now by the real economy - says John W.H. Denton, commenting on the findings of the ICC report.
