‘Cascading, compounding’: five key takeaways from Australia’s national climate risk assessment

National climate risk assessment warns that, even under moderate levels of warming, the total economic cost of floods, bushfires, storms, cyclones and hailstorms will be $40bn a year by mid-century. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

The national climate risk assessment has painted a challenging and confronting view of the future for Australia under global heating.

The report, released on Monday by the Albanese government, looked at 10 “priority hazards” such as bushfires, flooding and extreme heat and the risks they presented all across Australia’s way of life – from its oceans to its communities and the country’s economy.