Extreme weather cost $280 billion globally in 2021

$280 billion — That’s how much in catastrophic losses extreme weather cost us globally in 2021, including 20 events that cost a billion dollars or more in the United States. Those added up to $145 billion in losses.

And the number of billion-dollar weather disasters in the U.S. has soared, from an average of six a year from 2000 to 2010, to 17 a year in since 2016.

Those massive damages are why Munich Re Group and other large insurers are calling for urgent climate action.

Ernst Rauch, chief climate and geoscientist at Munich Re, joined Climate Cast this week to talk about it. Click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast to hear more.