Enlarge image
Destroyed house in the Ahr valley: "Climate change has made such events more likely
"
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
Storms, floods, fires and earthquakes caused financial damage worldwide in the past year as seldom before. According to an analysis by the reinsurance group Munich Re, natural disasters caused losses of 280 billion dollars (317 billion euros) in 2021. With 120 billion dollars (136 billion euros), less than half of this was insured, as Munich Re announced on Monday in Munich.
With a total damage of the equivalent of 46 billion euros, the low »Bernd« with days of rain in Germany and neighboring countries was the second most expensive natural event worldwide last year. Germany accounted for 33 billion euros of the damage. "Climate change has made such events more likely," said Ernst Rauch, chief climate researcher at Munich Re, of the Reuters news agency. "It will be a generational task to make our country weatherproof."
According to calculations by Munich Re, »Bernd« caused costs of eleven billion euros for the insurance industry, of which 8.2 billion were in Germany. That is almost a quarter of the total damage. The flash floods around the Ahr and Erft had flooded entire villages in July. "Many people were surprised that such a large amount of damage could occur in such a small space," says Rauch. This is a new dimension: the insured damage is four times what the greatest flood storms have ever caused in Germany. "These are experiences that will shape the insurance industry," says the climate expert.
According to the reinsurer, the devastating flash floods were the most expensive natural disaster of all time for Europe as a whole.
But the USA was hit even harder, where tornadoes, hurricanes and a cold spell hit $ 145 billion.
"Unfortunately, a total of 280 billion in 2021 fits into the long-term observation of increasing damage," said chief climatologist Rauch.
According to Munich Re, the more frequent occurrence of extreme weather conditions associated with climate change plays a decisive role.
In addition to Ida, 20 other tropical cyclones formed in the northern Atlantic last year.
"The long-term mean is much lower, around 14 hurricanes a year," said Rauch.
The influence of climate change cannot be dismissed out of hand.
The warm air can absorb more moisture from the oceans, making heavy rainfall more likely.
And because air currents change with temperature differences, highs and lows stay in one place longer.
The probability that the world will miss the target of a maximum warming of 1.5 degrees is increasing month after month, says Rauch.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that we have to adapt to climate change" - also with a view to future generations.
"This ranges from the prohibition of rebuilding destroyed buildings in risk zones to the renaturation of rivers."
The most expensive disaster year still 2011
In the inflation-adjusted ranking of the natural disaster years in 2021, according to Munich Re, it ranks fourth.
The most expensive year so far was 2011, when the seaquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster in Japan drove the global economic damage to 355 billion dollars.
sol / dpa / Reuters