Climate damage costing Europe 915 billion since 1980, heat in 2026 a point of GDP

Since 1980, climate change has cost Europe 915 billion (822 billion until 2024, 93 billion in 2025), and Italy is the country which in the period considered records the highest losses, equal to 147 billion euros, with an impact equal to on average approximately 2,500 euros per resident citizen. But the impact is growing: this year's heat wave could reduce the GDP of the old continent by one point, a value equal to 180 billion.

The data emerge from the "Strategy for climate peace" report promoted by ConsumerLab and Future Respect, which summarizes the main data taken from over eighty official research on the impact of the climate on European economies, businesses and the lives of citizens.

The annual average of economic losses due to extreme meteorological and climatic events has gone from 8.6 billion in the decade 1980-89 to 44.9 billion in the five-year period 2020-24: a value that has more than quintupled - analyzes ConsumerLab - The heat waves of summer 2025 alone have produced a loss of gross added value estimated at 43 billion euros, with a projection of up to 126 billion per year by 2029 based on historical patterns and with the peak in 2026 which could be worth 1 point of GDP, around 180 billion.