Bad weather: the astronomical cost of global warming
Audio 03:17
Backhoes remove debris littering the streets of the village of Derneau, Germany, after heavy rains flooded the city in mid-July.
July 21, 2021 © AP - Thomas Frey
By: Anne Verdaguer Follow
8 mins
In recent days, a wave of bad weather has hit Europe, the American West and China.
With more than 150 dead in Europe and at least 25 dead in China, the human toll of these floods is heavy.
Thousands of people have had to be displaced in the United States and Canada, countries in which a state of emergency has been declared in the West.
In addition to the human toll, the material damage is considerable in all these regions.
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Although it is still too early to determine the full cost of the destruction, the German Federation of Insurance Companies (GDV) has announced that flooding in western Germany will cost people up to € 5 billion. insurers.
In the most affected areas, destruction of roads, bridges and railways complicates communication and hinders inspection of damage.
The German government has already announced immediate federal aid of 200 million euros, a sum identical to that which the regions which have suffered these bad weather have pledged to pay.
Public authorities must act quickly to secure damaged buildings and help those who have lost everything or those who live in precarious conditions, without drinking water or electricity.
In China, the damage caused by the floods is also unprecedented and is estimated at 71 million euros across the Henan region.
Natural disasters cost 190 billion last year
Globally, economic losses caused by natural disasters reached $ 190 billion in 2020. These so-called second-tier disasters, such as floods or landslides, accounted for 71% of the costs borne by insurers. in 2020, a little over 55 billion euros.
But these phenomena are not systematically included in the basic contracts.
Thus in Germany, unlike France, the subscription of a natural disaster guarantee is not made compulsory by law.
Given the increasingly frequent nature of these bad weather, certain regions of Western Europe are therefore not sufficiently covered and the intensity of the recent floods as well as the amount of losses announced by the public authorities are increasing. higher.
Concerning Germany, we are talking about an exceptional phenomenon which remains one of the greatest climatic disasters in the country's history.
But with 3 to 4 degrees more on earth in the years to come, these events will increase inexorably, according to the French climatologist Jean Jouzel and in the long term, the damage will be much more costly.
The problem also lies in the fact that power stations, apartment buildings or commercial buildings - infrastructures which alone account for more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions - are no longer suitable.
For companies, it is difficult to make this subject a central issue, but the impact of these infrastructures on global warming and the resulting bad weather is real.
The role of the governing bodies in trying to prevent this material and human damage
The Environment and Energy ministers of the G20 countries are meeting today, Thursday, July 22, in Naples and this subject should be tackled as a priority.
According to the International Energy Agency, global CO2 emissions, the primary source of global warming, are expected to reach an unprecedented level by 2023 and continue to grow in the following years.
For good reason, the recovery plans intended to counter the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on our economies devote too little to clean energy.
It is therefore time to think about a global climate agreement.
After the presentation of the “Fit for 55” climate package by the European Commission last week, Europeans could play a leading role in this area.
As part of the Green Deal for Europe, the European executive has indeed proposed a series of legislative texts intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. And if everyone can make an effort to reduce their impact on the planet, the fight against climate change and adaptation to the disasters it causes remains in the domain of public authorities.
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