Context:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it would cease tracking the financial costs of major U.S. disasters, which exceed $1 billion in damages, beginning in 2025. This decision has raised significant concerns among researchers, insurers, and policymakers who rely on this data for understanding disaster patterns and making informed decisions on infrastructure investments. Critics argue that this move aligns with the Trump administration's broader efforts to curtail climate research, as evidenced by recent budget cuts and dismissals of climate authors. The absence of this data could leave the U.S. government and other institutions without a comprehensive understanding of the economic impacts of climate change-related disasters. The NOAA will provide access to historical data up to 2024, but future events, such as recent wildfires in Los Angeles, will not have their costs tracked or reported publicly.

Dive Deeper:

• NOAA plans to stop tracking the economic impact of disasters causing over $1 billion in damage, which will affect insurers, researchers, and policymakers who rely on this data to analyze and respond to climate-related events.

• The Trump administration's decision aligns with its ongoing efforts to reduce climate research, including cutting climate science budgets and dismissing climate assessment authors, drawing criticism from lawmakers and scientists.

• This cessation of data collection could hinder governmental and institutional efforts to allocate budgets and make informed infrastructure investments, as there would be no comprehensive data on the economic impacts of climate-related disasters.

• Historical data from 1980 to 2024 will remain available, but future events will not be tracked, potentially leaving the U.S. government without critical information on the risks posed by climate change.

• Billion-dollar disasters have been increasing, with an average of 23 per year from 2020 to 2024, compared to just over three per year in the 1980s, highlighting the growing economic threat of extreme weather as the planet warms.

• Critics emphasize that the unique and credible data provided by NOAA is irreplaceable due to its inclusion of proprietary insurance information, which other agencies are unlikely to replicate.

• The lack of data on future disaster costs may impair the public and Congress's understanding of climate risks, as emphasized by climate security experts who stress the importance of measuring these impacts to address and mitigate them effectively.