An increase in natural disasters as a result of global warming could cost the world more than $300 billion a year by 2050, says a report to the U.N. by one of the world’s largest reinsurers, Munich Re. The report says the losses would be the consequence of more tropical storms, loss of land due to rising sea levels, and damage to food crops and fishing stocks. Munich Re’s Gerhard Berz wrote that “certain countries, especially small island states, could face losses far exceeding 10 percent” of their gross domestic product. In other climate news, the European Union’s environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, said last week that the only way to wean consumers and industry from fossil fuels would be to steadily increase energy taxes.
