Natural disasters have cost us $162 billion this year.
The first half of 2025 marks a new inflection point in the global climate risk landscape. According to leading professional services firm Aon, global insured losses from natural catastrophe events reached $100 billion, the second-highest 1H total on record, surpassed only by the $140 billion seen in 2011.
Largely driven by Los Angeles wildfires and a series of severe convective storms across the US, the losses highlight the growing financial impact of climate-related weather volatility alongside growing exposure in event-prone areas. The moment presents a powerful opportunity for the insurance industry to not only adapt to rising climate volatility, but to lead the way – driving innovation, resilience and proactive solutions that redefine how risk is understood and managed in a changing world.
The Global Heatwave Crisis: What It Means for the Next Generation
2024 ranked as the hottest year on record. Global average temperature reached 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and every year from 2015 to 2024 is now in the top ten hottest years ever recorded. Scientists also reported a sharp rise in humid heat days, which strain the body far more than dry heat. These are not statistical outliers. They are the new baseline conditions that today’s children will inherit.
The global heatwave crisis is no longer a future problem—it is here, and its impact is measurable across health, education, food systems, economies, and urban living. This article outlines what the crisis means for the next generation, using verified data from global agencies and peer-reviewed research, while mapping practical solutions for governments, schools, families, and businesses.
Europe confronts an unprecedented wildfire season – What can we do to prevent them?
Europe is experiencing what may become one of its most devastating wildfire seasons on record. Since the beginning of 2025, more than 450,000 ha have burned — this is more than double the area burnt in the same period last year, with severe impacts on landscapes, cities, and communities that have spread with alarming speed and severity.
From the Mediterranean to the Balkans, relentless heat and drought have fuelled fierce infernos. In Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro, Cyprus, the UK, France, Italy, and elsewhere, communities are grappling with waves of fire, displacement, and emergency response. While wildfires are common in the summer, this is more than a seasonal crisis. Climate-driven heatwaves, prolonged drought, high wind patterns, and abundant dry vegetation are converging to create a “new normal” of extreme wildfires.
Triple whammy: how 3 types of drought crippled southern Australia this year
Soaking mid-winter rains have brought some relief to drought-stricken farms and rural towns across southern Australia, but the crisis is not over yet. And there’s more to this challenging episode than you might think. As climate scientists, we see more than a single drought. Rather, it’s a trilogy of droughts. Across southern Australia over the past six months, three interconnected phases have unfolded in rapid succession: flash drought, green drought and fodder drought. Each phase brings its own challenges. Together, they reveal the complex and cascading nature of climate stress in southern Australia.
Why the UK needs more proactive heat risk management
When the UK recorded temperatures above 40°C for the first time in July 2022, it marked a clear signal: extreme heat is no longer a distant or unlikely threat. In 2025, the Met Office warned that, due to climate change, such heatwaves are now becoming the norm, underscoring the urgent need for preparedness. Yet, as our new study published in Earth’s Future shows, the country’s readiness to manage heat risk remains fragmented and reactive, focusing on immediate impacts rather than the complex interdependencies that amplify these risks.
IEFG BIG Series: Education x Climate = Philanthropy²
How can education and climate funders collaborate more strategically, sharing insights, evidence, and approaches, to deepen understanding and strengthen the critical connections between climate change and education?
In this episode of the BIG Series, we bring together funders from both sectors who are actively engaging at the nexus of climate and education, they will share with you concrete examples of successful collaboration. The discussion will explore how aligned funding strategies and shared learning can catalyze more effective, long-term collaboration, ultimately advancing solutions that respond to both climate and education challenges in an integrated way.
Most of Victoria’s infrastructure was not built for more frequent and severe weather. This means infrastructure, like roads and powerlines, is exposed to greater damage from wild storms, bushfires and floods.
This research can help governments decide how and where to invest in adapting infrastructure. It shows how to assess the risks from extreme weather and compare different solutions to better protect infrastructure assets. Extreme weather damage already costs Victoria about $2.7 billion a year. Without action to better protect infrastructure, costs will grow.
This systematic literature review examines the latest developments in Climate Risk Assessment (CRA), focusing on how climate risks are framed and assessed. It explores advancements, ongoing challenges, and emerging opportunities to guide future generations of CRAs. Key findings highlight a more nuanced risk framework that incorporates climate responses, modulating the three risk determinants (exposure, vulnerability, and hazards), as outlined in the latest IPCC assessment. The state-of-the-art concentrates on the temporal and spatial characteristics of hazards, while exposure and vulnerability are increasingly understood as dynamic concepts influenced by socioeconomic changes. Recent developments, such as multi-hazard approaches, risk tolerance integration, and the concept of Climatic Impact-Drivers (CID), provide new perspectives on assessing climate risks.
Enhancing water sector resilience through Nature-based Solutions in South Asia
This report outlines five strategic directions for national governments to prioritise in order to accelerate the mainstreaming and scaling up of NbS, thereby strengthening water resilience for communities and economic sectors. South Asia is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, with countries like Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan consistently ranking among the top ten most affected nations in the Global Climate Risk Index. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are emerging as a promising and holistic approach to addressing the impacts of climate change on water resources.
Debating Disaster Risk: Ethical Dilemmas in the Era of Climate Change
Dealing with the risks of climate change and disaster is a political process. It produces winners and losers, mobility and permanence, radical change and continuity, relief and suffering. For some, it ultimately leads to life or death. Yet consultants, academics, humanitarian agents, and politicians often simply propose well-intentioned ideas—resilience, sustainability, community participation, emergency shelter, green development—while failing to perceive the blind spots and unintended consequences of such approaches.
Debating Disaster Risk brings together leading global experts to explore the controversies that emerge—and the tough decisions that must be made—when cities, people, and the environment are at risk. Scholars and practitioners discuss the challenges of reducing vulnerability and rebuilding after destruction in an accessible and lively debate format, with commentary by researchers, students, and development workers from across the world. They emphasize the ethical consequences of decisions about how cities and communities should prepare for and react to disasters, considering issues such as housing, environmental protection, urban development, and infrastructure recovery.
Register Now: Webinar – Addressing Urban Heat Islands for Equitable Climate Resilience
Cities, with their concrete landscapes and limited green cover, can become significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, intensifying health risks, energy demands, and social vulnerabilities. These impacts are often concentrated in low-income or marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities.
This webinar will explore how data, governance, and climate finance can converge to combat urban heat. Through high-resolution environmental data and community-level assessments, cities can identify hotspots and prioritize interventions such as nature-based solutions, reflective infrastructure, and improved urban planning. The discussion will highlight the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and equitable financing mechanisms to ensure that adaptation efforts serve all urban residents—especially the most vulnerable.
Date: 2nd September 2025.
Time: 09:00-10:00 CEST / 07:00-08:00 UTC
World Water Week 2025: Water for Climate Action
World Water Week 2025, on 24 – 28 August, will focus on innovation at a time of unprecedented changes. Human activities have triggered a global water crisis where we have for the first time crossed the safe planetary boundary for water. Yet this is only one of multiple interlinked crises; in addition, we must simultaneously tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty. Water is at the core of all these threats, which also means that it is one of the most powerful tools to find solutions.
From Strategy to Structure: Leveraging ReMA and BRI for Organizational and Asset-Level Resilience
In the face of escalating climate and disaster risks, both the public and private sectors are under growing pressure to assess and strengthen their resilience. The UNDRR-supported Corporate Chief Resilience Officers (CCRO) Network and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—through its Green and Resilient Buildings team—are joining forces to showcase two complementary tools that help organizations and developers assess and advance their resilience journey: Building Resilience Index (BRI): A free, science-based, self-assessment tool developed by IFC to evaluate and benchmark the resilience of individual buildings based on hazard exposure and design features. Resilience Maturity Assessment (ReMA): A qualitative and strategic tool designed to help organizations (including private sector companies, utilities, and others) understand their current resilience maturity and identify pathways for improvement. Together, these tools form a comprehensive roadmap: ReMA identifies strategic and organizational gaps, while BRI helps implement tangible improvements at the asset level.
CODATA Data Ethics Working Group Policy Briefs Available for Comment and Feedback
The CODATA Working Group on Data Ethics (now a Task Group), has produced three policy briefings on important topics in relation to data ethics. At least two more are in the pipeline. The policy briefings respond to the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. They start from the premise that the Recommendation, in its statements of values and principles, and its other argumentation, is a document with a significant ethical orientation. The policy briefings, therefore, seek to augment the Recommendation and add further considerations and policy guidance for ethical issues in relation to data. The first three Policy Briefs are available for comment
The webinar aims to provide ECRs with an overview of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), their sources, trends, mitigation strategies, and the broad climate and air quality benefits of targeting their reduction.
High-level launch: from heatwaves to cyber threats – understanding today’s hazards
The UNDRR–ISC Hazard Information Profiles (HIPs) provide a comprehensive, science-based overview of 281 hazards relevant to disaster risk reduction – from floods and wildfires to pandemics and cyber threats. This 2025 edition reflects a major shift toward a multi-hazard understanding of risk – recognizing that hazards often interact, cascade, or occur together in ways that intensify their impacts. With contributions from over 330 experts across 150+ organizations, the HIPs are a trusted reference for governments, agencies, researchers, and practitioners worldwide.
