Extreme heat will already cost the global economy US$1.07 trillion by 2025

Extreme heat will cost the world economy US$1.07 trillion (around R$5.7 trillion) in 2025, according to Times Brasil. The damage was mainly due to loss of productivity, one of the most direct channels through which the climate affects company results and economic activity.

The case is not punctual. Also according to Times Brasil, 2025 was the third consecutive year in which the loss was above US$ 1 trillion (R$ 5.3 trillion), which indicates a persistent trend and not an isolated event.

The numbers are part of The Lancet Countdown report, which brings together analyzes on climate and health. According to the survey, the number of heat-related deaths rose and extreme weather events intensified.

What is at stake is the connection between health, work and production. When heat affects people's productivity and health, the cost appears diffusely on balance sheets and in the economy as a whole, even if it is not always explicitly recorded.

Given this situation, experts argue that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions takes place more urgently. The discussion, in this reading, stops being just environmental and starts having direct economic weight.

What changes for the investor

The data reinforces a risk factor that tends to gain space in the analysis of sectors most exposed to climate and work productivity. The Times Brasil report, however, does not provide elements to estimate the impact on shares, interest rates or the dollar, and any reading on prices would be speculation. What the numbers show is a cost that is repeated year after year, and which may start to appear more clearly in company reports. Those who follow the stock market, Nasdaq and exchange rates would do well to observe how companies describe climate risks in their results.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.