From the super cold wave sweeping North America at the beginning of the year to the floods in Australia in March, extreme droughts in the western United States and Mexico in May, extreme heat waves sweeping North America in June, temperatures in many cities in the United States hit extreme values, and Brazil also suffered its worst drought in 91 years.

This month, from the "once-in-a-thousand-year" torrential rain in Western Europe to the torrential rain in Henan, China. Extreme weather and natural disasters seem to be scheduled to take turns in 2021. And the target of their attack is human beings.

At the beginning of this year, a cold wave from the Arctic brought unprecedented cold weather to much of the United States. Daily temperatures have hit record lows again and again in hundreds of cities in the central United States, from Denver to Chicago.

The cold wave comes as the prices of various heating fuels, including oil and natural gas, soar, as do electricity prices and usage, and millions of American households face rotational blackouts for the first time in a decade.

Not long after the "strongest cold wave in history," in June this year, a drought rarely seen in 1200 years hit the western part of the United States. The western part of the United States experienced a severe drought, the worst in the 20-year history of drought monitoring in the United States, affecting more than 58.38 million people.

California, Nevada, Arizona and other states have been particularly affected by the drought. Lake Meade, the largest reservoir in the United States on the border between Nevada and Arizona, has fallen to its lowest level since the impoundment in the 1930s.

Natural disasters continue not only in North America but also in the southern hemisphere. In early June, Brazil experienced its worst drought in 91 years. As Brazil relies heavily on hydropower stations for power generation, the lack of rain in most areas has had a negative impact on food cultivation, livestock and power generation.

In addition to cold waves and droughts, a "rainstorm crisis" has been staged around the world since the beginning of summer.

Under the influence of low pressure, torrential rain in western Europe has been continuous since the 14th of this month, and even more than a month's rainfall in a day. Mountain torrents caused by continuous torrential rains destroyed some villages.

Among them, at least 133 residents of Germany, the center of the disaster, were killed in the disaster. Figures released by Belgian police show that 27 people have been killed as of Saturday afternoon. In addition, about 1300 Germans are unaccounted for. Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland were also affected, with thousands of people requiring emergency evacuation.

According to the recent report "extreme Summer: floods, High temperatures and fires" released by the World Meteorological Organization, parts of Western Europe experienced two months of normal rainfall within two days (July 14-15). And the soil water content in these areas is already close to saturation.

Since July 17, there has been continuous heavy precipitation in Henan, with torrential rains and torrential rains in most of the province, mainly concentrated in the western, northern and central regions, and torrential rains in Zhengzhou, Jiaozuo, Xinxiang and other 10 cities.

From 8: 00 on the 18th to 15:30 on the 20th, the rainfall of seven rainfall stations in Xingyang and Gongyi, Zhengzhou, Henan Province exceeded 600mm, with a return period greater than once in 500 years, with the maximum rainfall 718.5mm, with 201.9 mm of rainfall in an hour from 16: 00 to 17: 00 on July 20 in Zhengzhou, according to the CCTV network. The water level of 32 large and medium-sized reservoirs in Henan exceeded the flood limit, and dangerous situations occurred in some river sections, resulting in serious regional floods.

Global warming or extreme weather inducement

As for the causes of extreme weather, climate experts say global warming is making extreme weather more likely and frequent.

Petri Tlass, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said on the 19th that climate change is the root cause of the torrential rains and floods sweeping Western Europe this summer, and that before the mitigation of climate change is effective, there will be more and more extreme weather events and natural disasters.

He said that humans are no stranger to extreme weather, but climate change has undoubtedly increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather. Without climate change, such high temperatures would not have been observed in Canada and the western part of the United States, which is a clear sign of climate change.

Tlass also believes that climate change will continue in the coming decades anyway. If people succeed in mitigating climate change, we can stop this negative trend in the 1960s. Before that, people will see more and more natural disasters and extreme weather, as well as more casualties and economic losses than before.

Tlass also pointed out that no region in the world is immune from the negative effects of extreme weather events and natural disasters. Last year, the number of hurricanes in the Caribbean, super typhoons in Asia and cyclones that hit the Pacific islands and southern Africa all hit record highs.

In addition, some experts say that climate change has never been the only cause of extreme weather events, but it can sometimes be an important contributing factor.

Nikos Christidis, a senior scientist at the Met Office, said that an event is the result of a combination of many factors, many of which affect and may drive extreme weather events.

In principle, analysts point out that higher temperatures accelerate the evaporation of water from the surface, thus accumulating more water in the atmosphere, resulting in more torrential rain. The evaporated water will also make other areas drier, such as the western United States.

Since the era of industrialization, human burning of fossil fuels has led to global warming of about 1 degree Celsius or 2 degrees Fahrenheit, a seemingly gradual change, but it has led to disproportionately frequent and serious natural disasters.

Studies show that the chances of a tropical storm becoming a category 3 or higher hurricane increase by 8% every decade, and the area of forest destroyed by wildfires in the west doubles. In addition, for every 1 degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature, the moisture in the atmosphere increases by 7%.

Other studies have shown that if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, the earth's temperature may rise by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. At that time, the Arctic will be ice-free in summer, hundreds of millions of people will suffer from food shortages and extreme drought, a large number of species will face extinction, and some areas will become uninhabitable.

How does climate change affect the global economy?

Climate change will not only affect the living conditions of human beings and our homes, but also deal a heavy blow to our economy.

The report "Climate change Economics: inaction is not an option" released by Swiss Reinsurance Research Institute shows that the global economy could lose 10 per cent of GDP by 2050 as a result of climate change.

The study also warns that if no action is taken and temperatures rise by 3.2C that figure could rise significantly to 18 per cent of GDP by mid-century.

Under such circumstances, the report expects Asian economies to bear the brunt and be hardest hit: at best, GDP will be hit by 5.5 per cent; in severe cases, GDP will be hit by 26.5 per cent.

However, there are significant differences in the data in different regions. With warming below 2 °C, GDP in advanced Asian economies is expected to fall by 3.3 per cent and, in severe cases, by 15.4 per cent, while ASEAN countries are expected to fall by 4.2 per cent and 37.4 per cent, respectively.

Outside Asia, in severe cases, GDP in the US, Canada and the UK is expected to lose 10 per cent and Europe 11 per cent.

At the same time, temperatures in the Middle East and Africa will drop 4.7 per cent if the temperature rise is kept below 2 °C and in severe cases below 27.6 °C, the report added.

Of course, the impact of macroeconomic data is only one aspect. From an industry perspective, agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, which are highly dependent on climate, will suffer heavy losses in extreme weather.

In some places, although the increase in temperature and carbon dioxide will increase the yield of some crops, in order to achieve more balanced agricultural development, it is also necessary to meet the reasonable and moderate levels of nutrients, soil moisture, available water and other conditions. The frequency and severity of droughts and floods may pose challenges for farmers and ranchers, reduce the nutritional value of crops and threaten food security.

In addition, many weeds, pests and fungi thrive in the presence of rising temperatures, humid climates and elevated carbon dioxide levels, which will also pose a serious threat to crops.

For livestock, the heat stress caused by high temperature heat wave will affect animals directly and indirectly. Over time, heat stress increases the risk of disease and reduces fertility, and cows also produce less milk.

In addition, the drought will threaten the feed supply to pastures and increase the prevalence of parasites and diseases in livestock.

At the same time, rising water temperatures may lead to changes in the habitats of many fish and shellfish species and lead to fierce competition among aquatic species for resources, thus destroying aquatic ecosystems and eventually leading to fisheries disasters.

In addition, excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase ocean acidity, weaken the viability of shellfish and fish, and eventually affect humans.

For human beings, all of the above will eventually disrupt the food supply, reduce people's food supply, and affect the quality of food. Even in the field of food storage and transportation, high temperatures can lead to more food corruption and contamination.

In the end, the unbridled carbon emissions of mankind since the industrial revolution have come to a bad end, but in any case, it is not too late to stop. Only in this way can the extreme natural disasters brought about by climate change be really strangled in the cage.

Extreme weather will also affect businesses in different ways

In addition to affecting the macro-economy and industries, extreme weather will also affect businesses in different ways.

As for which companies are more vulnerable to extreme weather? The market intelligence company Four Twenty Seven combines extreme disaster weather factors such as sea level rise, hurricanes, floods and droughts to measure and rank the company's vulnerability to disaster weather, and finds that the industry leaders with multi-point layout of the supply chain expose the most risks.

At the top of the list is Norwegian Cruise Holdings, which has a number of facilities in Miami, including freight and passenger facilities and travel agencies, which are highly exposed to risks such as extreme rain, hurricanes and floods, according to the report. the company may suffer huge losses. Technology giant Western Digital, which also has more than 1/5 of its facilities, could cause operational disruptions and supply chain disruptions due to severe flooding. In addition, Micron Technology, Seagate Technology, Applied Materials, Dominique Resources, Public Service Enterprise Group, Royal Caribbean Cruise, Inset Medical, Bristol-Myers Squibb and other companies are among the highest probability of natural disasters.

Overall, what percentage of corporate earnings will be dragged down by extreme weather? According to S & P global statistics, about 15 per cent of S & P 500 companies publicly disclosed the impact of weather and other related events on corporate earnings in fiscal 2017, but only 4 per cent of companies were actually quantified. the earnings of these companies are affected by an average of about 6 per cent.

It is worth mentioning that with the deepening impact of climate risk factors on enterprises, more and more companies are using climate change as a risk factor in their annual reports. 85% of companies have taken climate into account in their decision-making process.

The environmental group CDP, a non-profit organization, recently released a report it has collected on the environmental impacts of major companies, detailing the risks and opportunities that climate change may bring.

The report shows that many companies have realized that extreme weather is or will affect corporate earnings in a variety of different ways.

One of the most frequently mentioned risks for companies is the shortage of water resources. For example, many of Intel's businesses are located in semi-arid areas and areas where water is scarce. Intel said in the report that the semiconductor manufacturing process depends on water and that its operating costs will increase significantly if climate change causes droughts in these areas to last longer. Coca-Cola faces the same problem, and the water supply to Coca-Cola's bottling system may be limited if climate change leads to water shortages.

In addition, AT&T noted that more frequent typhoons and wildfires will cost more money to repair damaged networks and equipment.

Disney mentioned that rising temperatures have affected the comfort and health of customers in theme parks. If no measures are taken to ensure that low-cost alternatives to cool and manage extreme temperatures will affect their ability to attract and retain the number of visitors.

In addition, bank of America noted that 4% of its u.s. real estate-guaranteed loans are in flooded areas, almost all of them residential, and that increased flooding and severity could cause customers to default on mortgages.

Visa warns that global warming could exacerbate global epidemics and armed conflicts, which in turn lead to fewer people going out and traveling across borders.