Climate-related economic losses

Due to its territorial morphology and geographical location in Europe, Italy is strongly affected by geological instability and flood risks; moreover, Italy’s urbanised areas are considered climate hotspots because of the complex system that characterises them. Between 1990 and 2023, climate-related extreme events caused economic losses of EUR 1.2 billion. The trends for these economic losses highlight the high degree of variability in extreme events from decade to decade. However, the values per capita show a significant increase since 2017. In particular, in 2017 values doubled compared with 2016 and in 2023 values were five times higher than 2016, reaching the highest values in the series. Drought, flooding, landslides, heatwaves and forest fires have affected Italy in various ways, resulting in loss of property, damaged crops and lost yields, damage to infrastructure, water shortages and, in particular, fatalities. In 2023, the heavy rainfall and the resulting landslides and floods that affected the Emilia-Romagna Region caused 17 casualties and EUR 8.5 billion in damage, documented and reported to the EU. The Italian trend from 2016 shows that economic losses caused by extreme weather events are increasing over time at a higher rate than the European trend. As the frequency of extreme events is expected to increase in the future, it seems unlikely that the associated economic losses will decrease by 2030.