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Report: $313 bn global economic losses from weather-related disasters in 2022
* Damages resulting from weather-related disasters increase seven-fold
* Extreme heat responsible for average of 500,000 excess deaths annually
* Glaciers lost 267 gigatons of ice per year between 2000 and 2019
* World projected to lose around 50% of glaciers
* 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakorum, Hindu Kush mountains are at risk
Damages resulting from weather-related disasters have increased seven-fold Since the 1970s, with 2022 alone seeing $313 billion in global economic losses, according to “The Interconnected Disaster Risks report 2023” issued by the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
Insurance is used to safeguard people against the risk of losses as a result of damages during disasters, with the cost based on the probability of such losses occurring. Climate change is dramatically shifting the landscape of risks, with the number of severe and frequent disasters forecast to double globally by 2040, causing insurance prices to rise.
Extreme heat was already responsible for an average of 500,000 excess deaths annually in the last two decades, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable.
Due to global warming, the world’s glaciers are melting at double the speed they had in the past two decades. Between 2000 and 2019, glaciers lost 267 gigatons of ice per year, roughly equivalent to the mass of 46,500 Great Pyramids of Giza.
“In a warming world, we are projected to lose around 50 percent of glaciers (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) by 2100, even if global warming can be limited to 1.5°C,” the report highlighted.
As a glacier begins to retreat, its ice gradually melts and increases the amount of water flowing to the river basin. With more meltwater, the risk of flooding downstream increases. In some cases, this can lead to “glacial lake outburst floods”, in which a natural dam fails and suddenly releases meltwater with devastating consequences.
Eventually, the glacier experiences its highest amount of melting and produces the maximum volume of water runoff, known as “peak water”. After this point, freshwater availability will steadily decline.
Peak water has already been passed or is expected to occur within the next 10 years in basins dominated by small glaciers like those in Central Europe, western Canada or South America. Even the glaciers on the highest peaks, such as those in the high mountains of Asia, are predicted to reach peak water around the middle of this century. As such, the 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountains are at risk, and so are the nearly 870 million people that rely on them.
The report analyzed six interconnected risk tipping points. Selected for their representation of large global issues that impact lives across the world they are accelerating extinctions that trigger chain reaction to ecosystem collapse; groundwater depletion that drains water risking food supply; mountain glaciers melting; space debris causing loss of multiple satellites, “our eyes in the sky”; unbearable heat making it hard to live in some areas; and uninsurable future when rising risks make homes unaffordable.
The impacts can also cascade through to other systems and places around the world, authors of the report warn.
If risk tipping points are understood, informed decisions and decisive actions to avert the worst are possible.
“Because of the interconnected nature of these risk tipping points, their drivers, root causes and influences, avoiding them will require more than a single solution”, explained Dr. Zita Sebesvari, one of the report’s lead authors and UNU-EHS Deputy Director.
“We will need to develop solutions that bring together different sectors and address the drivers and root causes in a systemic way.”
The report offers a new framework that categorizes risk mitigation solutions into four types based on their approach: Avoid (preventing risk), Adapt (dealing with risk), Delay (slowing risk progression), and Transform (system overhaul). This framework aids in evaluating a solution’s potential outcomes and trade-offs.
“In our interconnected world, we can all make changes and inspire others towards transforming the way we use our systems to reduce risk,” said Caitlyn Eberle, a lead author of the report and senior researcher for the UNU study.
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