Copyright Emilio Morenatti/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved. A new report by Christian Aid found that Europe accounted for three of the top 10 costliest climate disasters in 2024. The ten most financially costly climate disasters of 2024 all had an impact of more than $4 billion (€3.8 billion), according to a new report. The research by the charity Christian Aid found that Europe accounted for three of the top ten costliest disasters, with Storm Boris in central Europe and floods in Spain and Germany. Most of the estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be even higher, while the human costs are often uncounted, the organisation says. The report also highlights ten extreme weather events that didn’t rack up big enough insured losses to make the top ten but were just as devastating and often affected millions of people. These included several events in poorer countries where many people don’t have insurance and where data is less readily available. “This report is a sobering reminder that climate change cannot be ignored and in fact will get much worse until we do something to stop it,” says Joanna Haigh, Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London. “Politicians who downplay the urgency of the climate crisis only serve to harm their own people and cause untold suffering around the world.” World’s costliest climate disaster occurred in the US The report found that the US bore the brunt of the costliest climate disasters in 2024, with October’s Hurricane Milton topping the list as the single biggest one-off event at $60 billion (€57.5 billion) in damage and 25 deaths. Hurricane Helene, which struck the US, Cuba and Mexico in September, was next at $55 billion (€53 billion) and 232 deaths. Related […]