In a year expected to be the hottest on record, natural disasters caused economic losses of $310 billion worldwide under the ever-increasing influence of climate change, Swiss Re estimated on Thursday.
This amount is up 6% compared to last year, said the Swiss group which acts as an insurer for insurers.
The damage covered by insurers should reach $135 billion, up 17% over one year, with hurricanes Hélène and Milton having increased the bill, the Swiss reinsurer said in a press release on Thursday.
Insurers’ costs for natural disasters thus exceed the $100 billion mark “for the fifth year in a row”, notes Balz Grollimund, head of catastrophe coverage at Swiss Re, in the press release.
This increase in costs is partly attributable to the concentration of assets to be insured in urban areas and to the increase in reconstruction costs but “climate change also plays a growing role”, according to him.
In the press release, Swiss Re noted that with the global average temperature rising “by 1.54°C above pre-industrial levels, 2024 is on track to become the hottest year on record.”
However, “a warming climate favors the occurrence of many of the natural disasters observed in 2024,” continues the reinsurance giant, which cites floods in particular.
The Swiss group refers to measurements from the World Meteorological Organization, a UN body, which announced in November that the global average temperature exceeded pre-industrial levels by 1.54°C between January and September, temporarily exceeding the objective of the Paris Agreement, under the effect, among other things, of an El Niño episode, which favors an increase in temperatures.
In November, Europe’s Copernicus service warned that 2024 could be the first year more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, even saying it was “likely” that warming exceeded 1.55°C. C during the calendar year.
13 billion dollars down the drain
According to Swiss Re’s first estimates, insured losses for hurricanes Helene and Milton which hit Florida at the end of September and beginning of October are currently below the $50 billion mark.
Its German competitor Munich Re also recently published an estimate for hurricanes in the North Atlantic and typhoons in the North-West Pacific, citing an “exceptional” tropical cyclone season with total losses of 133 billion dollars, 51 billion insured.
Hurricanes in the North Atlantic are traditionally the most expensive disasters for insurers, but for several years Swiss Re has constantly warned that costs for other disasters, such as floods or hailstorms, are constantly increasing.
Since January, insured flood losses have totaled nearly $13 billion. This is the third costliest year for floods globally and the second costliest in Europe, according to Swiss Re.
Among the floods which generated significant costs for insurers, the Swiss group cites the intense rainfall in April which notably disrupted Dubai airport, the largest airport in the world.
The year 2024 was also marked by storm Boris in September, which affected the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria but also Slovakia, Romania, Italy and Croatia, then by the deadly floods in Spain in October.
“Losses are likely to increase as climate change intensifies extreme weather events,” warns the reinsurer.
The Swiss group advocates putting in place protective measures like dikes, dams and locks, stressing that these measures can be “up to 10 times more cost effective than rebuilding.”
■
