Climate change is causing extreme weather events such as floods, storms and droughts around the world. In the current report by the Swiss reinsurer Swiss Re, Austria ranks fourth in the ranking of those worldwide who are at risk of experiencing economic damage from climate change. This makes Austria the most threatened country in Europe, ahead of Switzerland in ninth place. The climate damage is estimated at 0.25 percentage points of GDP loss. The Philippines is in first place (three percentage points), followed by the USA with 0.38 and Thailand with 0.36. The high risk to Austria results primarily from the risk of flooding. This is probably due to the geological conditions of the Alps, in combination with the construction of the rivers, which hardly have any flood areas anymore. Storms are mentioned as further dangers for Austria. According to Swiss Re, the damage in the 36 countries examined amounts to 200 trillion US dollars per year. If climate change continues as before, that would be a global GDP loss of seven to ten percent by 2050. Recommended measure number one: reduce emissions.
