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Loretta Lohman

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Nov 27, 2025, 10:08:31 AM (9 days ago) Nov 27

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Vietnam has faced extreme storm after extreme storm this year, including one that nearly set a global rainfall record. The disasters have left the country and its scant defenses reeling. Today’s newsletter looks at the costly challenges Vietnam faces in adapting to climate change, a problem other nations are also grappling with.

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, we’re also taking the opportunity to share some of our best features and investigations over the past year. Don’t miss our deep dive into the new disaster economy fueled by ever-rising recovery costs.

Be sure to bookmark these stories for relaxing after dinner — or the commute home if it’s not Thanksgiving where you are. And for access to all our award-winning journalism, please subscribe.

The cost of disaster

By Francesca Stevens

Vietnam has been pounded by a series of deadly disasters and historic floods this year that have racked up at least $3 billion in losses and exposed the nation’s flimsy climate defenses, just as another storm bears down on the region.

Recovery efforts continue in five central provinces where severe flooding and landslides left at least 98 dead over the past week and caused economic damage estimated at more than 14 trillion dong ($546 million), according to the government. Many families have lost their homes and livelihoods after prolonged floodwaters compounded an already torrid storm season.

Floodwaters after Typhoon Bualoi hit Vietnam in September. Photographer: Phan Duy/AFP

Storm damage alone has caused an estimated 85 trillion dong ($3.2 billion) of economic losses this year so far. Last year, the toll of natural disasters hit a record $3.5 billion with almost 500 deaths recorded, after Super Typhoon Yagi cut a swath of destruction across northern Vietnam.

In recent weeks, tourism hubs Hoi An, Danang and Nha Trang have all been submerged. The historic city of Hue saw more than 1,700 millimeters (5.6 feet) of rain within 24 hours in October, close to the global record. While the capital Hanoi was left underwater twice in two weeks, bringing the city center to a standstill.

Heavy rain delayed harvesting in Vietnam’s biggest coffee-growing province of Dak Lak, where farmers are still assessing the extent of damage to crops in the world’s top producer of robusta beans.

While attribution studies point to the role of climate change in worsening the severity of recent natural disasters, the impacts have also been exacerbated by failures in resilience strategy, including “deforestation, poorly planned urban development, land reclamation, and the obstruction of natural drainage systems,” according to Loan.

Vietnam’s climate adaptation plan, lodged with the United Nations in September, sets out the many gaps in the nation’s resilience strategy. Some warning systems for incidents like flash floods or landslides don’t yet meet requirements, 70% of sea dykes have yet to be upgraded, and more than 1,000 reservoirs are degraded or damaged. “Current policies mainly focus on disaster recovery rather than prevention,” Loan said.

A World Bank assessment estimates that, without proper adaptation and mitigation measures, climate change will cost Vietnam about 12% to 14.5% of gross domestic product a year by mid-century, and that additional investment in climate adaptation by 2040 of roughly $254 billion is required. “It is difficult for Vietnam to meet such a demand without the contribution from external sources,” the adaptation plan said.

Read the full story, including the adaptation challenges in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Missing billions

$310 billion

The amount of money developing countries will need annually by 2035 to adapt to climate change, according to the United Nations, though it could be as high as $365 billion.

Planning for the present

"Whilst mitigation gradually takes place, we need to now start focusing on adaptation."

Gareth Phillips

African Development Bank Group

Disasters like the one unfolding in Southeast Asia are driving a newfound interest in adaptation finance, though funding is still far below what it needs to be.

Disaster Inc.

Workers rebuilding walls in Asheville, North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene. Photographer: Mike Belleme/Bloomberg.

Adaptation needs are hardly limited to developing nations. In fact, preparing for disasters and repairing in their wake is increasingly big business in the US. The country has rung up $7.7 trillion in climate damage since 2000, according to research by Andrew John Stevenson, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Large parts of the US economy run on disasters, from Home Depot Inc. to TetraTech. Yet the shape of what that means on the ground is decidedly piecemeal. While there are major projects underway, such as multibillion-dollar sea walls springing up to protect New York from storm surge, adaptation can also be small-scale, like installing a sump pump in your basement.

Eric Roston traveled to the frontlines of the disaster economy, visiting Asheville, North Carolina, to see how these forces are shaping recovery after last year’s Hurricane Helene. His piece is the first in our Disaster Industrial Complex series.

The human body versus heat

Glen Kenny stands beside the Snellen Calorimeter at the Human and Environmental Physiology lab. Photographer: Justin Tang/Bloomberg

We’ve covered plenty of extreme science, but a researcher voluntarily spending three days inside a chamber with the thermostat turned to 104F (40C) might be the most extreme. University of Ottawa scientist Glen Kenny did just that in his quest to understand what happens to the human body on an overheating planet. (Short answer: It can shed 10 pounds in 72 hours.)

Kenny is one of a number of researchers around the world conducting lab experiments that simulate increasingly dangerous heat. The ramifications of their work are profound: More than 2.4 billion workers globally currently face exposure to extreme heat, and that number will only rise in a warming world.

Zahra Hirji and Aaron Clark take you inside the labs that test the body’s limits.

The $10 trillion climate bet

Solar panels in China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Emissions hit a record high this year. Not exactly a climate success story.

But that doesn’t mean the energy transition is a bust. In fact, the world has poured $10 trillion into it since 2010. That includes a record $2 trillion last year. There’s been tangible progress toward meeting some climate goals, such as tripling global renewable capacity. And while emissions are stubbornly high, they are expected to peak soon and drop 10% by 2035.

Laura Millan and Rachael Dottle looked at the data to provide a global view of the energy transition and how leaders can take a few more steps in the right direction.

Missing: climate engineers

Workers assemble an electricity transmission tower near wind turbines. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Beyond money, one of the main bottlenecks to electrifying everything is the simple fact that there just aren’t enough skilled workers. Projects around the world are suffering from a dearth of engineers and other workers who can build high-tech green energy products, wire the grid, and even do nuts-and-bolts tasks like pouring cement.

The problem is most acute in countries with declining birth rates and increasingly strict immigration policies that make it difficult for engineers from countries like China to fill badly needed positions.

Akshat Rathi, Olivia Rudgard and Josh Saul examined the trend and the creative ways companies are trying to fill the huge labor gap. It includes the tale of a worker who transitioned from croissants to batteries. Creative indeed.

Save the sea otters

Sea otters in Moss Landing, California. Photographer: Rachel Bujalski

The charismatic marine fauna were nearly wiped out on the West Coast before restoration efforts helped them stage comebacks in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. But there’s a 1,000-mile gap in Oregon and California, and there’s a major need for otters. The marine mammals are tourist magnets, bringing in millions in revenue to the places they call home, and they also eat destructive species such as urchins. Their voracious appetite helps carbon-sequestering kelp forests thrive.

Todd Woody looked at the private conservation efforts to help otters get a tiny toehold in California. PSA: There are more otter photos.