Losses from Extreme Weather Could Hit $5 Tril.

LONDON (Reuters) — Global economic losses could reach $5 trillion under a “plausible increase” in extreme weather events linked to climate change that cause crop failures and food and water shortages, insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London said on Oct. 11.

Lloyd’s, which carried out the research alongside the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, stressed that its “systemic risk scenario,” which models the global economic impact of extreme weather, was hypothetical. But it said the work would improve business and policymaker understanding of their exposure to critical threats such as extreme weather.

When adjusting the estimated $5 trillion in losses over a five-year period for the probability of those extreme weather events occurring, the expected global economic losses were $711 billion, Lloyd’s said.