Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Global Hurricane-Induced Damages

We couple a synthetic hurricane generator to a damage model to estimate non-precipitation-related global damages from tropical cyclones in the current climate and in the climate of the late 21st Century as simulated by four global climate models under the IPCC A1B emissions scenario. We also estimate the effects of changing coastal population and income on damage. We project that the rate of tropical cyclone damage will double just from increased population and income. Climate change is expected to almost double this future global damage rate. The damage is projected to be concentrated in the United States and China. Caribbean and Pacific islands are projected to suffer the highest annual damage rates per unit of GDP. We show that over 90% of the damage from tropical cyclones is caused by the 10% most destructive storms.