New record reached for climate index

The Australian Actuaries Climate Index recorded an all-time high of 1.01 across Australia during autumn, after the east coast was battered by extreme rainfall and flooding and northern Australia experienced high temperatures.

The East Coast South region, which covers the Sydney metropolitan area and most of the NSW coast, recorded the highest-ever level of extreme rainfall, which was closely followed by the Wet Tropics region of the northern parts of Queensland.

The flooding that commenced during the previous year’s season continued this year, after heavy rainfall and drenched soil conditions persisted as a result of the ongoing La Niña weather system and an east coast low that hung over the region.

This also meant that the frequency of extreme rainfall experienced on the east coast had exceeded the base period calculations from 1981 to 2020 by six times by March, dropping to four times by May.

“The Australian Actuaries Climate Index clearly shows extreme weather conditions are a ‘here and now’ challenge,” Actuaries Institute President, Annette King, said.

“It underscores the importance of all stakeholders embracing solutions – from investment in adaptation and resilience to improved disclosures and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

The metric also found Australia experienced extreme high temperatures during the autumn quarter, revealing the Wet Tropics and Monsoonal North regions recorded the second highest extreme high temperature index value since its launch in 2018.

The East Coast also saw the third highest value since 2018. The Bureau of Meteorology also said the national mean temperature was the third highest on record.

“This extreme weather is consistent with the warnings of climate scientists, recently summarised in a joint paper by the International Actuarial Association and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Science: A Summary for Actuaries,” Rade Musulin, Chair of the Actuaries Institute Climate Risk Working Group and Principal at Finity Consulting, said.

“It is important that we invest in improving the resilience of our communities in light of trends in extreme weather.”