2020 weather disasters boosted by climate change: report - Global Times

The ten costliest weather disasters worldwide in 2020 saw insured damages worth $150 billion, topping the figure for 2019 and reflecting the long-term impact of global warming, according to a report Monday.

The same disasters claimed at least 3,500 lives and displaced more than 13.5 million people. From Australia's out-of-control wildfires in January to a record number of Atlantic hurricanes through November, the true cost of 2020's climate-enhanced calamities was, in fact, far higher because most losses were uninsured.

Not surprisingly, the burden fell disproportionately on poor nations, according to the annual tally from global NGO Christian Aid, entitled "Count the cost of 2020: a year of climate breakdown."

Only four percent of economic losses from climate-impacted extreme events in low-income countries were insured, compared with 60 percent in high-income economies, the report said, citing a study in November in The Lancet.

"Whether floods in Asia, locusts in Africa, or storms in Europe and the Americas, climate change has continued to rage in 2020," said Christian Aid's climate policy lead, Kat Kramer...afp