Almost 800,000 people have died and economic losses of $4.2 trillion have been incurred as a result of weather-related disasters over the last 30 years, a new report by environmental NGO Germanwatch finds. The Climate Risk Index 2025, published on Wednesday, offers an overview of the history of damage from climate-related disasters globally.

The report tables nations according to the economic and human cost of climate-related calamities. Some of the countries worst hit are  Dominica, China, and Honduras, and they experience perennial floods, storms, and heatwaves that take a toll. 

Although nations like China, India, and the Philippines have constantly experienced extreme climate events, the likes of Dominica, Honduras, Myanmar, and Vanuatu have encountered extremely intense instances. Additionally, three European nations—Italy, Spain, and Greece—feature among the 10 most affected countries over the last three decades.

Between 1993 and 2022, the world witnessed over 9,400 extreme weather events, leading to catastrophic loss of life and financial devastation. The findings emphasize that climate-related disasters are not confined to any single region but have increasingly become a global challenge.

Laura Schaefer, co-author of the Climate Risk Index and Head of the International Climate Policy Division at Germanwatch, emphasized the wider implications of the climate crisis.

"The climate emergency is more and more becoming an international security threat and has to be tackled through daring multilateral efforts. Politicians at the Munich Security Conference cannot speak of security threats without touching upon the topic of climate change. Over the last thirty years, the nations of the Global South have especially suffered from weather-related extremes," Schaefer said.

She also noted that the effect of climate change can be even worse than what current figures indicate. "If the statistics for these nations were as extensive as the statistics of most Global North nations, we would even find an even greater level of economic and human impact emerging. We see more indications that we enter an acute and unstable stage of the climate catastrophe, which also will ever more fundamentally transform social evolutions and security for human beings throughout the world," she further said.

As the Munich Security Conference (MSC) is to be held in Germany, climate change is likely to be one of the central issues of discussion among world policymakers. Travis Brubaker, Senior Policy Advisor on US Climate Foreign Policy at E3G, highlighted the need to address climate change in the overall context of international security.

"At this time of poly-crisis, policymakers at the Munich Security Conference simply must confront climate change. There's war and urgent economic and political issues. But it is wrong to turn a blind eye to climate change, as climate effects exacerbate all these international issues. Spurring ambitious climate action also makes global security more resilient in three respects: reducing climate change reduces the source of threat multipliers, promotes multilateral cooperation, and addresses expectations of rising economies," Brubaker said.

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