Bearing the burden: Climate change-attributable losses and damages in the Sahel and Greater Horn of Africa

This report provides new data about the current and potential future losses and damages from climate-attributable weather events in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, with a specific focus on the agriculture and livestock sectors. This report analyses data from across 18 countries in Africa to provide new estimates of the costs of climate change - in terms of lives lost, agricultural damage and more - from climate-attributable extreme weather events in the Sahel and Horn of Africa between 2000 and 2022, and make projections for possible future losses. It also reviews existing literature to review indirect and non-economic losses and damages.

Key messages from the report include:

• Climate change contributed to 12,000 deaths from droughts and floods – around 39% of the total – and affected nearly 149 million people in the Sahel and Horn of Africa between 2000 and 2022.
• Climate change also cost $11.5 billion in crops & livestock losses in these regions.
• If the world warms to 2°C, by 2050 the total price tag - for crop & livestock damages, and lives lost, from climate-attributable droughts and floods - may reach $160 billion.