The highest economic loss of $29 billion due to climate change was recorded in 2017. Last year, the losses stood at $12.6 billion. The lowest total economic loss as a result of climate change was in 2012 with $3.9 billion.
RH Desk
December 3
Climate change-related extreme events have caused the European Union a loss of a whopping $154 billion over the past decade, estimates made by the European Environmental Agency reveal.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, temperatures in Europe have increased at more than twice the global average over the past three decades – higher than any other continent.
The Agency’s data suggest that the annual rate of economic losses caused due to climate change has been also increasing,
The highest economic loss of $29 billion due to climate change was recorded in 2017. Last year, the losses stood at $12.6 billion. The lowest total economic loss as a result of climate change was in 2012 with $3.9 billion.
Across the bloc’s 27 member countries, Greece recorded the highest climate-related losses at $96 per inhabitant in 2020. This was more than three times higher than the European Union’s loss average of $28.4 per individual. The lowest losses during this period were registered in Bulgaria at $0.74 per inhabitant, followed by Slovenia and Slovakia with an average loss of $4.22 per individual.
Early this year, the European Environmental Agency revealed that
weather and climate-related extremes accounted for around 80% of total economic losses caused by natural hazards in the European Union in the last four decades. These economic losses, the agency said, amounted to $513 billion.
The major economic losses were suffered by Germany ($113 billion), France ($104 billion) and Italy (95 billion).
