The Billion-Dollar Price Tag of Climate Change: Lessons from Stadler Rail

• Post by: Randy Muñoz
• May 2, 2025
• Comments off

EClim member Christian Huggel reflects on the recent flood-related losses suffered by Stadler Rail, a Swiss-based railway manufacturer, as a stark example of how the true costs of climate change are underestimated.

In 2023, Stadler Rail was hit by a series of severe flood events in Switzerland, Austria, and Spain, with estimated production losses around USD 200 million. Combined with the stock market devaluation (~USD 500 million), the total financial impact may reach billions. These costs—often uninsured and cascading through supply chains—are a warning of the growing economic risks from climate-related disasters.

The post links these events to findings from the IPCC AR6 and an attribution study on extreme rainfall, underscoring that climate risks are already disrupting business, trade, and livelihoods.

Christian and colleagues at EClim, in collaboration with EBP Schweiz, Sustainaccount, and Ecoplan, are currently working within the NCCS Impacts project to assess the real costs of climate change in Switzerland.

🔗 Read Christian Huggel’s full reflection on LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/1KYd4
📘 Attribution study: https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/extreme-rainfall-in-greece-bulgaria-and-turkey-in-september-2023/