The 2025 southwest monsoon season in India and Pakistan, that recorded eight per cent more than normal rainfall, has triggered maximum fatalities among 2025’s major climate disasters, according to a new report by UK charity, Christian Aid.
The South Asian monsoon was also the fifth most expensive climate disaster of the year, noted the global report that got published around midnight on December 27 in London, United Kingdom.
The report — Counting the Cost 2025 — has found that heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and storms cost the world more than $120 billion in 2025 just from the top 10 disasters affecting the planet. The monsoon impact in India, alongside Pakistan, is ranked at fifth position based on financial loss.
“The report underscores the escalating cost of climate change, with fossil fuel companies playing a central role in driving the crisis … the greatest toll (being) felt in the world’s poorest counties,” read the report, a copy of which is with this correspondent.
“The fingerprints of fossil fuels are all over the list of the year’s most expensive disasters. Whether it is the storm-ravaged coasts of the United States or the flooded plains of the Indian subcontinent, the common denominator is clear: a warming world driven by oil, gas, and coal. This year’s balance sheet of destruction proves that no border is safe from the fossil fuel crisis,” said Harjeet Singh, global climate activist and Founding Director, Satat Sampada Climate Foundation.
“The latest Christian Aid report shows that while climate disasters are growing more costly, the United States continues to treat climate action as optional, doubling down on fossil fuel expansion even as two of the world’s most expensive disasters struck the US this year,” observed Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), a major civil society platform globally.
The report identified the year’s 10 costliest extreme events influenced by the climate crisis, each causing over $1 billion in damage. Incidentally, no continent was spared from crippling climate disasters in 2025, with at least one disaster in each of the six populated regions of the world finding space in the report.
Incidentally, two of the top 10 most expensive disasters happened in the US, including the table topper Palisades and Eaton wildfires in California. It caused damages of more than $60 billion. The June to September southwest monsoon triggered extreme rainfall, flooding and landslides in India and Pakistan. It was estimated to have caused financial damages worth $5.6 billion, more than Rs 50,000 crore. Asia accounted for four of the top six costliest disasters, with flooding in India and Pakistan killing more than 1,860 people, adds the report.
The disasters caused by cyclones in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia have been ranked the second most expensive, having caused estimated losses of $25 billion. China’s extreme rainfall and flooding from June to August was responsible for losses to the tune of $11.7 billion. Category 5 hurricane Melissa that devastated Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas in October-end, was the fourth most impactful disaster financially, causing losses worth $8 billion, followed by the Indian subcontinent monsoon.
The report pointed out that most of these estimates are based only on insured losses, meaning the true financial costs are likely to be higher, while the human costs are often uncounted.
“These disasters are not ‘natural’ — they are the predictable result of continued fossil fuel expansion and political delay,” said Emeritus Professor Joanna Haigh at Imperial College London. “This year has once again shown the stark reality of climate breakdown …The poorest communities are first and worst affected. These climate disasters are a warning of what lies ahead if we do not accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,” added Patrick Watt, Christian Aid CEO.
“…India’s monsoon season started with the wettest May since records began. By September, the country had received 8 per cent more rainfall than the average, with 2,277 flood and heavy rain events recorded,” read the report.
“The last summer was above normal, and it was on predicted lines,” admitted Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the director of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to this correspondent on December 26 night.
According to a report by the IMD, the rainfall during the “2025 southwest monsoon season (June-September) was 108% of its long period average (LPA)” with figures higher than normal in all regions barring Northeast India. The report identified the 2025 monsoon as one of the strongest in recent years, the best rainy season since 2020.
“The total rainfall from June to September 2025 was 937.2 mm, which is considered “above normal” by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). This marked the second consecutive year of above-normal monsoons,” said the IMD report, adding that 14 of the 18 monsoon weeks delivered excess or large excess rainfall.
The Christian Aid report also vindicated the status. “From June to September, large parts of India and Pakistan experienced an exceptionally heavy monsoon season. Torrential rains began early, triggering deadly floods, landslides, cloudbursts, and flash floods, particularly in mountainous regions. Across the region, rivers overflowed, farmlands were inundated, glacial melt worsened flooding, and thousands of towns were submerged” reads the report.
A recent assessment carried out by think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on disasters in India during 2025, mainly based on official data, highlights the devastating impact of disasters during 2025, particularly the monsoon.
“India faced extreme weather events on 99 per cent of days in the first nine months of this year, marked by heat and cold waves, lightning and storms, heavy rain, floods and landslides. These events claimed 4,064 lives, affected 9.47 million hectares of crops, destroyed 99,533 houses, and killed approximately 58,982 animals,” read the CSE report, adding that the damage is likely to be an underestimate due to incomplete data.
The CSE report shows that India witnessed extreme weather on all 122 monsoon days in 2025, spanning 35 states and UTs. “Heavy rain, floods, and landslides occurred daily, followed by lightning and storms on 104 days, cloud bursts on 17 …” states the report, adding that Himachal Pradesh was worst hit, affected on 103 days, followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh with disasters happening on 94 days each.