The drought in Spain is one of the 10 most costly climate disasters in the world in 2023

• Although far from megadisasters such as the Hawaii fires or Hurricane Freddy, the driest start to the year in history cost about 2.4 billion: “The economic impacts serve to understand the cost of the climate crisis”

The climate crisis does not come free to anyone. The extreme phenomena caused by global warming cause an economic impact wherever they hit. And the drought that Spain has gone through – and is still going through – is one of the 10 most costly disasters of the year in the world in 2023, according to the annual analysis of the Christian Aid organization.

At the top of the list are the forest fires that spread in Hawaii in August – costing about 3,700 euros per person – and the torrential storms in Guam and Vanuatu – with 1,300 and 800 euros each – in addition to the tropical storm in New Zealand. The floods in Italy last May are the sixth disaster. Ahead of the Spanish drought, the organization places the floods in Libya and Peru.

“Estimating the economic impacts of climate disasters is one way to understand the cost of the climate crisis,” explains Christian Aid chief executive Patrick Watt.

Although the cost of droughts and how many people it affects is more difficult to gauge than more immediate phenomena such as floods or hurricanes, Christian Aid’s work estimates that the lack of water generated damage of 50 euros per capita. “Before much of Europe experienced extreme heat during the summer, some regions of Spain already endured a severe drought in April,” the document says. “Spain recorded the driest start to the year since there is data, 1960,” he adds.

In addition to restrictions on human consumption, “the drought has caused worse harvests, including that of a key crop such as olives, in addition to worse wheat and barley seasons,” these analysts recall. The calculations of the economic impact are based on “the aid package launched by the Government” and estimate that they will reach 2.4 billion euros in 2023 alone.

“No deaths are attributed to the April drought peak despite supply cuts,” concludes Christian Aid. All in all, this work focuses on the unusual lack of rain in the middle of one of the supposedly wettest times of the year. “This drought was exacerbated by especially warm seasons that increased water stress in reservoirs that were already low.”

The summer ended up being very warm, but also humid, somewhat similar to autumn. Although this “has helped to partially alleviate the meteorological drought situation, especially in the northwest and center of the peninsula,” as the State Meteorological Agency says, rainfall is still well below average. “In the Guadiana and Guadalquivir basins, as well as in southern Andalusia, the current drought is the longest since there are records,” the Agency clarifies.

And then there is Catalonia. There, the dry spell also lasts more than 30 months, which has been described as the longest in its history (which has data since 1916). The Generalitat has described the situation as critical and maintains around thirty municipalities in an “emergency”. The director of Meteosat, Sarai Sarroca, has warned that “abundant rain is not expected to reverse it.”

More severe, prolonged and recurrent droughts are one of the impacts attributed by scientists to climate change. And Spain is at the center of that impact. In fact, almost a month ago, a group of researchers calculated with new, more precise data that Europe could face a megadrought every five years starting in 2030.

The zip code

The costs of climate impacts vary greatly from place to place. “The average for 2023 is about 360 euros per person,” but the “postal code is a global lottery,” they say at Christian Aid.

Patrick Watt describes that “the human cost caused by climate change is seen in destroyed houses, crops and livestock lost to droughts and, obviously, deaths.” Watt, however, emphasizes that this cost “is more devastating if you live in a vulnerable country” and remembers that, while some disasters make headlines, “like the fires in Hawaii”, others go unnoticed.

Hurricanes, storms and droughts have killed or displaced millions of people in places that have little responsibility in generating the climate crisis”, reflects this work: Hurricane Freddy in southeast Africa, cyclones Judy and Kevin or the Tropical Storm Mawar, in the Pacific, are examples of how in 2023 this situation has been repeated.

And yet, high-income countries such as the US, Italy and Spain have experienced disasters with damages of tens, hundreds or thousands of euros per person. As the UN has warned: no one is safe from the climate crisis caused by humanity.