This paper provides an overview of extreme climatic events that are a feature of current and future climate that require full understanding if they are to be assessed in terms of social and economic costs. A review will be made of the type of events that can be important in mid-latitudes, with examples taken from heat waves, floods, droughts, and wind-storms that have affected Switzerland during the course of the 20 th century. New regional climate model results are also presented for the IPCC A-2 scenario conducted over Europe, to highlight the likely shifts in extremes that may result from warmer global temperatures. The paper will then address some of the issues that need to be considered when attempting to use climate model results for the assessment of economic costs related to extreme climate events.