The 10 worst climate-related disasters cost the world more than $120 billion in 2025, according to a new report. These extreme weather events included wildfires, cyclones, extreme rainfall and flooding, and droughts.
While the United States witnessed the most expensive climate disaster of this year, Asia accounted for four of the six costliest extreme weather events of 2025.
The report, ‘Counting the Cost 2025: A year of climate breakdown’, was published by the charity Christian Aid on Saturday (December 27). The analysis identified 10 climate-related disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damage, with combined losses exceeding $122 billion.
Note that most of the figures in the report are based on insured losses, which tend to be highest in wealthier countries with a more widespread insurance coverage. This means that the true financial losses are likely to be much higher, as the deadliest events in poorer countries were uninsured and undercounted, the authors of the report said.
Credit: Christain Aid
Most expensive climate-related disasters
The list of the most expensive extreme weather events of 2025 is topped by January’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, which caused more than $60 billion in damage and were linked to more than 400 deaths.
However, Asia dominated the list overall. For instance, cyclones and flooding in South and South-East Asia in November led to a financial loss of around $25 billion and killed more than 1,750 people across Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Flooding and extreme rainfall in China between June and August caused $11.7 billion in losses. In India and Pakistan, an exceptionally heavy monsoon season (June to September) triggered floods, landslides, cloudbursts, and flash floods. “Entire communities were displaced, and the human cost was severe: at least 1,860 people were reported dead. The heavy rain had a significant impact on agriculture and infrastructure for India and Pakistan. The cost of the monsoon season reached a combined total of $3 billion,” the report said.
In the Philippines, typhoons killed hundreds of people and caused more than $5 billion in damage.
Global South disproportionately affected
It is not just Asia that bore the brunt of the climate-related disasters in 2025. The entire Global South was affected by the extreme weather events. For instance, Brazil witnessed a brutal drought between January and June, which led to a financial loss of more than $5 billion.
Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas saw wide-scale devastation by Hurricane Melissa, which killed more than 100 people and caused more than $8 billion in damage. In East Africa, Cyclone Garance led to a financial loss of $1.2 billion this year.
Significantly, the list did not include disasters that resulted in severe human loss in many poorer countries. For example, flooding in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo killed hundreds of people, while a drought in Iran and West Asia left around 10 million people in Tehran facing the prospect of evacuation due to water shortages.
Mohamed Adow, director of Nairobi-based energy and climate think tank, Power Shift Africa, in a statement, said, “While wealthy nations count the financial cost of disasters, millions of people across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean are counting lost lives, homes and futures.”
The Global South, which has historically contributed the smallest amount of global emissions, is more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, as it does not have the resources to tackle extreme weather events. That is why it has been demanding international public finance from the Global North for adaptation over the years.
Global North fails to fulfil its promise
However, the Global North has repeatedly failed to fulfil its obligations. The Adaptation Gap Report 2025, by the United Nations Environment Programme, reveals that developing nations will need between $310 billion and $365 billion annually by 2035 to cope with intensifying climate impacts. But the finance for adaptation fell to just $26 billion in 2023, down from $28 billion in 2022.
At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November, developed countries agreed to triple the amount of finance available to help poor countries. However, the tripling is expected to reach $120 billion by 2035, which is nowhere near enough to fund all the protection needed in developing countries.
Lack of funds for adaptation has forced poorer countries to borrow large amounts of money to deal with the fallouts of extreme weather events. An analysis by the International Institute for Environment and Development showed that in 2023, 59 least developed countries and small island developing states paid $37 billion to service their debts and received only $32 billion in climate finance.
In the following years, the losses incurred due to extreme weather events are only going to rise. That is because the world has continued to pump unprecedented levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The crisis can be averted only when all the countries dramatically slash their emissions and stop burning fossil fuels.
This, however, seems like a distant dream. At COP30, an attempt to chalk out a roadmap for countries to phase out fossil fuels was relegated to the status of a voluntary initiative, rather than a compulsory task for all nations.
Global South, which has historically contributed the smallest amount of global emissions, is more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, as it does not have resources to tackle extreme weather events. (Photo: Reuters) 
Credit: Christain Aid
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