Money-related impacts of the hottest year on record

Reading the Japan Times this morning, I was interested by an article that looked back on 2024 as the hottest year on record. Obviously, this isn't great for a myriad of reasons, but there are some huge financial impacts as a result. If you don't have time to read the article I've summarized a few of the key points below:

The hottest year on record wasn't just frustrating from a temperature perspective—there are lots of flow-on effects for the household budget, from running additional A/C to the price of produce increasing due to poor harvests.

• Due to record-breaking temperatures, there was a significant increase in air conditioning sales, with 439,000 units sold in October—this was a 13% rise compared to the previous year. Obviously, running A/C that late in the year means electricity bills are also higher. In the past I feel like October was a "sweet spot" month where you wouldn't need to run A/C or heating, but it seems like that has changed in many parts of the country.

• There has been a huge impact on farming and yields because of the temperature increase. Poor harvests happened for various fruits and veg, with cabbage receiving a by-name mention. The price for cabbage tripled in November from ¥417 per kilogram to nearly ¥1200, which had an impact both on folks buying produce and on farmers directly.

• On that note, farmers are having to change their practices because of the climate change impact. One farmer quoted in the article mentioned they had to use light-shielding nets and increased watering to combat the heat, which adds both extra labor and extra expense to the growing process.

• The fishing industry is seeing issues as well. One seaweed fisher noted their income was 1/10th of what it had been in the past, because seaweed-consuming marine animals that were once only seen in tropical regions have become active in Sagami Bay where she usually works. Less supply ends up leading to increased costs.

• There are some indirect health-related expenses that are also likely to come with the increase in heat over time. An online survey of 600 people in their 20s to 70s by Omron Healthcare conducted in August noted that respondents were less likely to exercise given the extreme heat (can't blame them, I'm the same). There were also 1,722 heatstroke alerts in 2024, the most since the warning system started. The issue of heatstroke is a big one for the healthcare industry, especially with an aging population who are more susceptible.

Can you think of any other ways the extreme heat will impact your budget that haven't been mentioned in the article?