A new alarm signal that confirms the obvious: extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods, which are set to increase in the years to come due to climate change, are costly in terms of human lives.
In Europe, they have caused the death of 142,000 people in Europe over the past 40 years, according to a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) published on Thursday. In its study, the Copenhagen-based institution calls for continued adaptation measures at both individual and state level. Over the same period, the various climatic disasters cost the continent 510 billion euros. Only a quarter of the losses recorded were insured.
In concrete terms, heat waves, but also cold spells, droughts and forest fires – all the so-called “climatic” events – account for 93% of the total number of deaths and for 22% of financial damage, according to the balance sheet based on data from the CATDAT organization. If the human losses they caused are much lower, the floods were the most expensive disasters in money, 44% of the total bill, ahead of the storms (34%), according to this same report.
The particularly devastating heat wave of 2003
It should be noted that a few very serious events concentrate the bulk of the balance sheet: 3% of the disasters identified are thus responsible for approximately 60% of the financial cost for the period 1980-2020. Particularly devastating, the 2003 heat wave alone caused the death of some 80,000 people in the 32 European countries studied, including the 27 members of the European Union as well as Turkey and the United Kingdom. Disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are not included in these figures, as they are not meteorological.
Globally, the World Meteorological Organization estimates that the number of weather-related disasters has increased over the past 50 years. Disasters that caused more material damage but resulted in fewer deaths. For Europe, however, the EEA considers that the data for the past 40 years does not allow concluding with certainty that these phenomena have increased due to climate change because of the very irregular damage depending on the year. One certainty remains, however: the risk will increase in the very near future.
“All the disasters that we describe as weather and climate related are influenced by climatic conditions. But that’s not to say they’re all influenced by climate change.”, said Wouter Vanneuville, an expert from the European agency. Recent studies, in particular the work of the IPCC, show that the frequency and severity of events such as droughts and forest fires are better explained when climate change is taken into account, he nevertheless recalled. But for others, like hailstorms, we still lack evidence.
More and more storms and floods in Europe
In Europe, climate models predict more frequent and more severe events, whether storms, floods, wet landslides or droughts and other forest fires, Vanneuville warned. “For certain types of phenomena, such as non-tropical storms, the climate signal in Europe is not clear and therefore it is not certain that they are increasing. But for others, such as droughts (not only in the Mediterranean, but in most parts of Europe), climate forecasts indicate an intensification”, he explained. In an attempt to limit the risks linked to extreme phenomena and reduce their damage, the EEA affirms that measures taken must be taken at both individual and state level. “After 2003, similar heat waves caused fewer deaths thanks to the implementation of adaptation measures”such as the installation of air conditioners, points out, for example the agency.
At the national level, Germany is the European country that has suffered the most with 42,000 deaths and financial losses amounting to 107 billion euros. Follow France and its 26,700 dead and 99 billion euros in damage and Italy (21,600 and 90). Only 23% of properties that suffered material damage across Europe were insured, but the disparities are huge: for example, 1% in Romania and Lithuania compared to 55% in the Netherlands or 56% in Denmark. According to a similar assessment established by the American meteorological agency NOAA, the United States has suffered 310 meteorological and climatic disasters since 1980, for damages exceeding 2,155 billion dollars.