BERLIN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Damage caused by extreme weather events has cost Germany 145 billion euros (146.5 billion U.S. dollars) since 2000, according to a study published by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) on Monday.
Most of the damage, worth 80 billion euros, occurred in the last four years, the study said. Flood-related disasters in July 2021, which destroyed entire villages and killed 186 people, accounted for half of the losses.
"The climate crisis is escalating worldwide," said Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck, pointing to the current droughts and forest fires in southern Europe and the floods in Australia, Madagascar, and Germany.
Minister for the Environment Steffi Lemke said the BMWK study was an "alarm signal (that) more crisis prevention (was needed)" to avoid further heavy losses globally and to the German economy.
While Germany aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 65 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels, the government last week put off presenting concrete measures to achieve the national target.
Due to looming gas shortages resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany has recently decided to re-start some coal-fired power plants to ensure the security of electricity supply.
"This is a short-term emergency measure that will not be at the expense of our climate targets," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue on Monday. "We must not consider sliding into a global renaissance of fossil energy, and coal in particular, now."
Scholz reiterated the commitment of the major Western industrialized countries (G7) to jointly provide 100 billion U.S. dollars annually for climate finance in poorer countries. Germany announced to contribute 6 billion euros by 2025 at the latest. (1 euro = 1.01 U.S. dollars)
