Source: BusinessGreen

Weather catastrophes have cost North America $1,060bn over the past 30 years, insurance giant Munich Re reported yesterday, warning that climate change means weather-related costs are rising fast.

A company study estimates insured losses from storms, floods, drought and heat waves over the period from 1980 to 2011 totalled $510bn.

The report also reveals a five-fold rise in weather-related loss events in North America over the past three decades, compared with a four-fold increase in Asia, 2.5 times rise in Africa, and a doubling in the number of events in Europe. “Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America,” the study concluded.

It said anthropogenic climate change is believed to contribute to this upward trend, although it acknowledged that the primary drivers have been socio-economic factors, such as population growth, urban sprawl, and increasing wealth.

Munich Re said climate change particularly affects the formation of heat-waves, droughts, intense precipitation events, and probably tropical cyclone intensity in the long run, adding that more frequent and intense weather extremes are in line with the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Professor Peter Höppe, head of Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research unit, said: “We have to regard this finding as an initial climate-change footprint in our US loss data from the last four decades.

“Previously, there had not been such a strong chain of evidence,” he added. “If the first effects of climate change are already perceptible, all alerts and measures against it have become even more pressing.”

Tony Kuczinski, chief executive of Munich Reinsurance America, urged countries to support improved adaptation efforts and climate change mitigation measures.

“What is clearly evident when the long-term data is reviewed is that losses from weather events are trending upward,” he said. “To simply say that this trend is a statistical anomaly or part of a long-term cycle of activity misses the point of these efforts – we must set aside our biases and continue a meaningful dialogue in search of answers to mitigate the losses that we are experiencing.”

The report comes as the UK Environment Agency highlighted the wild weather seen across the country this year and called for businesses to take action to better protect themselves.

Following two dry winters that saw 200 drought-related environmental incidents and major roads cracking, the UK experienced the driest spring for over a century followed by the wettest April to June on record.

“The weather extremes which we’ve seen this year … have brought the importance of resilience into sharp focus,” said Christine Tuckett, programme executive at the Environment Agency. “Taking action today to prepare and adapt our homes, businesses, and infrastructure is vital.”