Anyone who follows current events can tell you that weather has been making headlines across the globe. Fourteen “billion-dollar” weather and climate related disasters occurred in the United States in 2018 alone, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and according to insurance broker Aon’s annual report, “Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight,” the total global economic cost of weather disasters reached $215 billion in 2018.
NOAA also reported that the four costliest years in terms of economic loss have all occurred within the last two decades (2018, 2017, 2012 and 2005). These numbers are not unique to the United States. Moreover, from wildfires and typhoons to hurricanes and catastrophic flooding, global losses for 2017 and 2018 totaled $653 billion—a record for back-to-back years.