Extreme weather events have killed more than 60,000 people in 21st century, study finds

Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets of New Orleans in 2005. The study by Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand found that "Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma together caused $123bn in attributed damages. File photo: AP/David J. Phillip

Extreme weather events caused by climate change cost nearly €136 billion a year, or more than €15 million per hour, over the past two decades, a study has found.

Published in Nature Communications, the study by Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand looked at 185 events going back to the turn of the century. It found that a net of 60,951 deaths are attributable to climate change.

The year with the lowest costs attributed to climate change is 2001 at around €22.75bn, while the year with the highest climate-attributed costs is 2008 at around €588.6bn, the study found.

"The years in which costs reach high peaks — notably 2003, 2008, and 2010 — are predominantly because of high mortality events. 

"The events that drive these peaks are the 2003 heatwave across continental Europe, Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, and the 2010 heatwave in Russia and drought in Somalia," the researchers said.

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When taking out the loss of human life, the costs peaked in monetary damage in 2017 and 2005, they said.

"Storm events in the US drive these — in 2005, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma together caused $123bn in attributed damages, and in 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria were responsible for $139bn in climate change-attributed damages," the study said.

Just under two-thirds of the climate change-attributed damages are connected to storms, while 16% resulted from heatwaves. Floods and droughts are each responsible for 10%, and wildfires account for 2% of the net attributed damages, the study found.

Professor Ilan Noy, who along with Rebecca Newman carried out the study, did warn that the estimates are actually likely to be far higher because of the limitations on data, particularly in low-income countries.

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Low-income countries are most affected by the ravages of extreme weather despite being the least responsible for human-induced climate change.

He said: "We have no idea how many people died from heatwaves in all of sub-Saharan Africa.”

The statistical value of a life lost is calculated at $7m, according to economic models used by the likes of the US and the UK, which Prof. Noy said was not ideal. "A lot of people are very uncomfortable with the idea that we put a price tag on a life. 

"But this is very standard economic practice and comes about because, ultimately, we need to make decisions about [the value of] investments in various things," he told the Guardian.

Using that statistical modelling, of the €136bn damage per year caused by climate change, just under two-thirds of this is due to human loss of life. The net statistical value of life cost attributed to climate change across the 185 events is $431.8bn, the study found.