A new report highlights the ten most financially devastating climate events of 2021, from hurricanes in the U.S., China and India to floods in Australia, Europe and Canada. The report, Counting the cost 2021: A year of climate breakdown, by the Christian Aid, examines five events that while carrying a lower financial cost, brought devastating human impacts, such as drought in Africa and Latin America and floods in South Sudan.
The top ten most expensive events financially all cost over 1.5 billion dollars of damage with Hurricane Ida in the U.S., topping the list at $65 billion. The floods in Europe came second at $43 billion. 2021's most costly weather events include:
- Hurricane Ida — $65 billion.
- European floods — $43 billion.
- Texas winter storm —$23 billion.
- Henan floods (China) — $17.6 billion.
- British Columbia floods — $7.5 billion.
- France's "cold wave" — $5.6 billion.
- Cyclone Yaas (India, Bangladesh) — $3 billion
- Australian floods — $2.1 billion.
- Typhoon In-fa (China, Philippines, Japan) — $2 billion.
- Cyclone Tauktae (India, Sri Lanka, Maldives) — $1.5 billion.
Other extreme weather events include:
- Parana river drought (Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil)
- South Sudan floods (South Sudan)
- Lake Chad crisis (Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon)
- Pacific Northwest heatwave (U.S., Canada)
- East Africa drought (Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia)
The report found that financial costs are usually higher in richer countries because they have higher property values and can afford insurance. Unless the world acts rapidly to cut emissions, these kinds of disasters are very likely to worse, the report found. For the full report, please click here.
