MUNICH (Reuters) – German insurer Munich Re warned on Wednesday of a severe hurricane season in the Atlantic and rising temperatures globally that showed “no signs of stopping”.
The world’s largest reinsurer made the grim outlook in a regular half-year report on natural catastrophes.
Total losses from natural disasters, including those not covered by insurance, were $120 billion in the first half of the year, down from $140 billion a year earlier but above 10-year and 30-year trends.
Munich Re said that high water temperatures due to climate change are helping to energize the formation of hurricanes and that the El Nino weather pattern this year would not help mitigate the storms.
“Indicators continue to point to a severe hurricane season,” Munich Re said in the report, which comes as the period kicks into high gear.
Tobias Grimm, scientist with Munich Re, told Reuters: “Climate change is happening. This is a fact.
Global temperatures were 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than preindustrial levels, the reinsurer found. “The upward temperature trend shows no signs of stopping,” the report said.
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner; writing by Tom Sims; editing by Miranda Murray)
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