From orbit to Wall Street: satellite data sharpens climate risk for markets

In June 2024 Abidjan in south-eastern Africa received six months’ worth of rain in six days. The water flooded the land, triggered landslides that swept away entire roads and bridges, razed villages to the ground and killed 24 people. On the one hand, a terrible toll – yet, as Daouda Konaté highlights: “The situation could have been far worse.” As Director of the Côte d’Ivoire’s National Meteorology Service and First Vice President of the World Meteorological Organization explains: “Early warning systems developed during the past decade have strengthened responses to severe weather events in Côte d’Ivoire.“

Looking at comparable storm disasters in other regions of the African continent suggests that Konaté might be right: In Malawi alone, for example, more than 1,000 people lost their lives and 800,000 lost their homes in the spring of 2023 because of flooding caused by Hurricane Freddy, which devasted the south of the country without warning.

A key question emerges: why were people in the greater Abidjan area able to protect themselves so much better? An ‘orange alert’ was immediately issued, when unprecedented rainfalls were predicted in Abidjan, and the response coordination was escalated to the highest levels of government. Via various communication channels people living in high-risk areas were urged to seek safe places to shelter.