STORY: Rising climate costs will be a big challenge in 2023.

From record heatwaves to collapsing glaciers and unending drought, 2022 marked yet another year of climate-linked natural disasters.

And the financial risks and liabilities linked to those disasters are rising.

It might soon be possible to calculate how much a country has contributed to climate change - or even specific disasters.

This line of argument - called 'climate attribution science' - has made its way into more courtrooms.

Source: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University

There are about 2,200 climate-related lawsuits in play around the world, nearly a third of them in the U.S.

And that all comes as disasters are becoming more costly.

Insurers felt the pain in 2022 with three of the costliest disasters of the decade: “dystopian” flooding in Pakistan, deadly summer heatwaves in Europe... and Hurricane Ian's destruction across Florida and South Carolina.

Source: RMS

The three collectively caused more than $150 billion dollars in losses.

Meanwhile, at the UN conference in Egypt - countries reached a landmark agreement on a 'loss and damage' fund.

It would help poor countries cope with climate-fueled disaster costs.

But details on who would contribute - and who would benefit - are still missing.

Also - the talks did little to address the cause of those disasters: rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Public anxiety will keep growing as climate change escalates.

Companies and investors will likely face pressure to climate-proof their operations.

Governments and firms could be hit with more climate court cases.

At the end of the year, countries will meet again at COP28, in Dubai.

They’ll still be under pressure to see that emissions are cut in half by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050.

It’s the only path to keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius.