Climate crisis costing $16m an hour in extreme weather damage, study estimates

Analysis shows at least $2.8tn in damage from 2000 to 2019 through worsened storms, floods and heatwaves

The damage caused by the climate crisis through extreme weather has cost $16m (13m) an hour for the past 20 years, according to a new estimate.

Storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts have taken many lives and destroyed swathes of property in recent decades, with global heating making the events more frequent and intense. The study is the first to calculate a global figure for the increased costs directly attributable to human-caused global heating.