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.
Study Estimates Global Cost of a Decade’s Extreme Weather
