Fires fueled by global warming skyrocket the bill for the climate crisis among the 10 costliest catastrophes of the year

Los Angeles fires were the most ruinous disaster of 2025, according to a report blaming the fossil fuel sector for economic and human losses

With more than 400 fatalities and losses worth 60,000 million dollars (about 51,000 million euros at current exchange rates), the spate of devastating fires recorded in January in the Los Angeles metropolitan area – with the Palisades and Eaton fires at the forefront – represent the costliest climate change-related disaster of 2025 in the world. according to a report prepared by Christian Aid. This organization compiles every December the 10 most expensive catastrophes linked to global warming of the year, mainly based on data on insured assets. And those California fires alone account for nearly half of that team’s losses, which together amount to $122 billion across the dozen events analyzed.

Second place is occupied by the cyclones and floods that hit South and Southeast Asia in November. They left $25 billion in damage and killed more than 1,750 people in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia. The third place is the also destructive summer floods in China, which displaced thousands of people, caused damage worth 11,700 million dollars and killed at least 30 people. But, beyond the list of those 10 most costly events, the authors highlight that “no continent” has been spared from “devastating climate disasters in 2025”.

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