Climate Change Costs Billions This Year

Climate change played a crucial role in at least 15 events in 2019 that cost more than US$1 billion in damage, with more than their share cost more than US$10 billion each.

According to British charity Christian Aid, extreme weather - including floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires - "struck every corner of the globe" in the past year, causing devastation and loss of life. Christian Aid, which trailed climate-related damage in 2019, said the declines in human terms and insured injuries were undervalued.

Floods in Argentina and Uruguay in January this year forced around 11,000 people to be displaced from their shelters. Cyclone Idai killed about 1,300 people in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe in March. Cyclone Fani hit Bangladesh and India in May and June. A stronger than usual monsoon marred 1,900 people in India.

Christian Aid said the year 2019, so far, is the second hottest year in history. Each disaster in the report has a link with climate change, the charity added.

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The British charity - consolidating its report from official figures by media reports, NGOs and aid bodies, and scientific studies - said the disasters displaced millions and caused widespread deaths. 

Seven of those reports caused damage to more than US$10 billion. These included the floods that ravaged north India, typhoon Lekima in China, Hurricane Dorian in the United States, floods in China, surges in the United States, typhoon Hagibis in Japan, and the California wildfires, the costliest tragedy at US$25 billion.

Christian Aid said the figures only show insured losses and "don't always take into account other financial costs," including lost productivity and uninsured losses.

The charity reported that the financial costs were most significant in more affluent countries. Japan and the United States suffered three out of the four most costly events, said Christian Aid.

Kat Kramer, reprort's co-author and global climate lead at Christian Aid, said time was running out to stop the climate crisis. She noted that greenhouse gas emissions continued to increase.

"It's [necessary] that [countries develop a] new and [improved] pledges for action to [meet] the Paris agreement as soon as possible," Kramer said. 

"That will [make sure] the world [urgently acknowledges] to the warnings of scientists, [also because] the demands from schoolchildren [worldwide are terrified] at the [type of planet] they're being forced to inherit," she added.

The threat posed by global climate change became so severe in 2019 that Indonesia, one of the world's fastest-growing countries, decided to maneuver its capital to somewhere that wasn't sinking. 

Christian Aid said global temperatures will rise a minimum of another 0.5°C over the next two decades, and another 2-3°C by the next century unless urgent action is taken to scale back emissions. It added the world's climate would be more intense and other people worldwide would pay the consequences.

The foremost challenge, according to Christian Aid, is to lessen the consequences of climate change through deep and rapid emissions cuts.