A representative image.
Credit: DH Photo
Mumbai: Climate disasters like heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and storms cost the world more than $120 billion in 2025, according to a new report.
The report — Counting the Cost 2025 — by Christian Aid underscores the escalating cost of climate change, with fossil fuel companies playing a central role in driving the crisis.
The cost of climate inaction is equally clear, as communities continue to bear the brunt of a crisis that could have been averted with urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The ten most financially costly events all had an impact of more than $1 billion with the combined total topping more than $122 billion in damage.
Most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be even higher, while the human costs are often uncounted, according to a Christian Aid press statement.
In terms of events which caused the biggest financial cost in 2025, the US bore the brunt, with the fires in California topping the list as the single biggest one-off event at $60 billion in damage and leading to the deaths of more than 400 people. Second on the list was the cyclones and floods that struck Southeast Asia in November causing $25 billion in damage and killing more than 1,750 people across Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and Malaysia. Third were the devastating floods in China which displaced thousands, caused $11.7 billion in damage and killed at least 30.
No continent was spared from crippling climate disasters in 2025, with at least one disaster in each of the six populated regions of the world making the report. Drought in Brazil, summer wildfires in Spain and Portugal and February cyclones in Australia and Réunion island off the coast of Africa meant no corner of the world was spared.
Asia accounted for four of the top six costliest disasters with flooding in India and Pakistan killing more than 1,860 people, costing up to $6 billion and affecting more than 7 million people in Pakistan alone.
More than $5billion in damage was caused by typhoons in the Philippines with more than 1.4 million people displaced.
While the top ten focuses on financial costs, which are usually higher in richer countries because they have higher property values and can afford insurance, some of the most devastating extreme weather events in 2025 hit poorer nations, which have contributed little to causing the climate crisis and have the least resources to respond.
“This year has once again shown the stark reality of climate breakdown. Violent storms, devastating floods and prolonged droughts are turning lives and livelihoods upside down. The poorest communities are first and worst affected,” Patrick Watt, CEO, Christian Aid.