China loses $32.8bn annually to extreme weather

China suffered the world’s second-largest monetary loss from natural disasters during the period 1996 to 2015, according to the Global Climate Risk Index (GCRI) 2017 report. The index reported that China lost an average of $32.8 billion per year to extreme weather events. The United States came in number one, losing $39.1 billion annually. Published by Berlin-based NGO Germanwatch, the GCRI highlights the human and economic cost of climate change. The index measures how exposed and vulnerable a country is to natural disasters. According to Caixin, extreme weather events are predicted to become more frequent as global temperatures rise. Although China lost the second-largest sum in absolute terms, Germanwatch researchers say that this is due to the large size of the country’s economy, rather than the severity of the natural disasters.