Heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and storms cost the world over $120 billion in 2025, according to a new Christian Aid report, “Counting the Cost 2025”. As the year draws to a close, the report identifies the 10 most expensive and impactful climate disasters, with Asia accounting for four of the six costliest ones.
The June–September flooding in India and Pakistan is ranked fifth among the costliest climate-related disasters in 2025, killing more than 1,860 people, affecting over seven million people in Pakistan alone, and underscoring the high cost of extreme weather events and escalating risks to both human lives and national economies.
The exceptionally heavy monsoon season across large parts of India and Pakistan from June to September triggered landslides, cloudbursts, and deadly flash floods. Entire communities were displaced, and the heavy rainfall caused widespread damage to agriculture and infrastructure in both countries.
The combined economic cost of the monsoon season was estimated at around $5.6 billion by the report.
“Torrential rains began early, triggering deadly floods, landslides, cloudbursts, and flash floods, particularly in mountainous regions.
“India’s monsoon season started with the wettest May since records began. By September, the country had received 8% more rainfall than the average, with 2,277 flood and heavy rain events recorded. The heavy rain had a significant impact on agriculture and infrastructure. By the end of the season, India’s agricultural sector – responsible for about 18% of the economy and 1.4 billion people’s incomes – saw a reduction in yields,” the report says.
The bottom line is that warmer oceans and a warmer atmosphere are supercharging evaporation, increasing atmospheric moisture, and fuelling heavier downpours. These conditions favour the melting of glaciers and permafrost and amplify the risk of floods and landslides. Linking the extremity of monsoon seasons with human-driven climate change, scientists estimate that for every degree of warming, monsoon rains will likely increase by around 5%.
Meanwhile, among the extreme weather events influenced by the climate crisis are the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in California, which alone resulted in losses exceeding $60 billion. The year also saw devastating wildfires in the UK following record-breaking heatwaves in Scotland. Other major events highlighted include prolonged droughts in Canada, a series of powerful typhoons in the Philippines, and record-breaking fires across the Iberian Peninsula.
The rising cost of climate change is being driven largely by continued fossil fuel use, the report warns. The cost of climate inaction is becoming increasingly clear, as communities bear the consequences of a crisis that could have been reduced through early and decisive action, it says, calling for urgent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and increased support for vulnerable communities, stressing that the impacts of such disasters can still be mitigated.
“These disasters are not ‘natural’, they are the predictable result of continued fossil fuel expansion and political delay,” according to Emeritus Professor Joanna Haigh of Imperial College London.
Incidentally, most estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial cost may be much higher, while the human suffering often remains uncounted, the report suggests.