People around the world suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat this year because of human-caused climate change, according to a group of scientists who also said that climate change worsened much of the world’s damaging weather throughout 2024.

Extreme weather cost thousands of lives in 2024 and left countless more in desperate poverty. The lasting toll of such disasters is impossible to quantify. In terms of economic losses, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re estimated the global damage bill at US$310 billion, a statement issued early December.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of scientists confirmed that climate change worsened natural disasters throughout 2024.