Page 28 - Climate Change

More than 70% global workers exposed to climate change risks: ILO

Some countries have improved heat protections for workers, such as Qatar, whose policies came under scrutiny ahead of the 2022 soccer World Cup

Europe fastest-warming continent, temp rising nearly twice avg global rate

Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations reported Monday, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity. The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's climate agency, Copernicus, said in a joint report that the continent has the opportunity to develop targeted strategies to speed up the transition to renewable resources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power in response to the effects of climate change. The continent generated 43% of its electricity from renewable resources last year, up from 36% the year before, the agencies say in their European State of the Climate report for last year. More energy in Europe was generated from renewables than from fossil fuels for the second year running. The latest five-year averages show that temperatures in Europe are now running 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 Fahrenheit) above ...

Climate crisis cooks up costly meals: Why your 'thaali' could be on fire

As the climate blows cold and hot, it puts wheat, milk, coffee, and even Hilsa in peril

World Bank, IMF meetings conclude without concrete plan on climate finance

The annual World Bank and IMF meetings have wrapped up without a concrete plan to mobilise the trillions of dollars needed to fight climate change, in a year where agreement on New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) or a new climate finance goal will be the key issue at the United Nations climate conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan. NCQG is the new amount developed countries must mobilise every year from 2025 onwards to support climate action in developing countries. Rich countries are expected to raise more than the USD 100 billion they promised to provide every year from 2020, but repeatedly failed. A recent analysis revealed that financial flows into developing countries turned negative in 2023, with these nations paying out more in debt servicing than they received in external financing. Discussions between G7 and G20 finance ministers on the sidelines of the spring meetings that wrapped up on Saturday touched on providing finance to developing countries for meeting climate and ...

Pak province issues flood alert, warns of heavy loss due to glacial melting

A Pakistani province has issued a flood alert due to glacial melting and warned of heavy loss of life, officials said Saturday. The country has witnessed days of extreme weather, killing scores of people and destroying property and farmland. Experts say Pakistan is experiencing heavier rains than normal in April because of climate change. In the mountainous northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been hit particularly hard by the deluges, authorities issued a flood alert because of the melting of glaciers in several districts. They said the flood could worsen and that people should move to safer locations ahead of any danger. If timely safety measures are not taken, there is a possibility of heavy loss of life and property due to the expected flood situation, said Muhammad Qaiser Khan, from the local disaster management authority. Latest figures from the province said that 46 people, including 25 children, have died in the past five days due to rain-related incidents.

Climate change's 'physical risks' are increasingly catching up with banks

But as temperatures soar around the world, triggering a deadly cocktail of wildfires, storms and drought, banks are now being forced to pay greater attention to what are known as "physical risks"

Global warming of 3 degrees Celsius may result in 10% GDP loss: ETH study

Warming of the planet by 3 degrees Celsius may cost the world up to 10 per cent of its GDP, a new research has found. It also found that poorer, tropical countries could see the worst effects -- up to 17 per cent GDP loss. The study -- led by ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and published in the Nature Climate Change journal -- suggested that roughly half of the predicted global economic damage could be related to extreme heat, with heat waves being the most impactful among the extreme events analysed. "Impacts are more severe in the Global South and highest in Africa and the Middle East, where higher initial temperatures make countries particularly vulnerable to additional warming," the authors wrote. The researchers further found that the cost of climate change increased around the world after accounting for changes in rainfall and temperatures occurring within a short span at a location. "If we take into account that warmer years also come with changes in rainfall and temperature ...

Climate change to cause $38 trn yearly damage to global economy by 2049

The paper uses data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years to assess future impacts of a warmer planet on economic growth

Investor climate group eyes assets in private equity, sovereign debt

The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance members are being asked to include assets like private debt and equity in their emissions reductions strategy

Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders more likely to believe in climate change

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are more likely than the overall adult population to believe in human-caused climate change, according to a new poll. It also suggests that partisanship may not have as much of an impact on this group's environmental views, compared to Americans overall. A recent poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 84% of AAPI adults agree climate change exists. In comparison, 74% of U.S. adults hold the same sentiment. And three-quarters of AAPI adults who accept climate change is real attribute it entirely or mostly to human activity. Among the general U.S. adult population surveyed in an AP-NORC poll in September, only 61% say humans are causing it. The poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, whose views can usually not be highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of .

Supreme Court order on climate change not a recipe to rewrite laws

The Supreme Court of India has always advocated a balance between development and environmental goals, say experts

Country's consumer firms gear up to capitalise on a sizzling summer

Cooling systems providers are one of the main beneficiaries of summer, with the season contributing up to 60% of their annual revenue

EU court decision shows safe climate is human right: Ex-UN rights chief

Having a safe climate is becoming more of a human right globally with this week's European court decision that says countries must better protect people from climate change, something warming-hit residents of the Global South long knew, said former Ireland President Mary Robinson. Robinson, who was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, praised Tuesday's mixed court decision as precedent-setting and change-triggering. The European Court of Human Rights sided with Swiss senior women saying their government wasn't doing enough to protect them from climate shocks, but dismissed similar complaints from Portuguese youth and France's mayor on technical grounds. "Many countries in Europe, if not all, will be vulnerable to litigation along those lines, that their countries are not doing enough to protect the human rights," Robinson said in a 30-minute interview with The Associated Press at the Skoll World Forum, a conference of ideas and entrepreneurship. "If countries do not

Extreme heat in East Asia, Pacific putting millions of children at risk: UN

Warnings over more intense and frequent heat waves this summer are especially worrying in the region, as high humidity levels make it more difficult for the body to cool down naturally

Best of BS Opinion: There is another way, Cyber risk to stability & more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

March marks yet another record in global heat, says EU climate agency

Each of the last 10 months ranked as the world's hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin

Climate activists seek major human rights ruling against European states

Depending on the ruling, countries may need to update their plans for reining in climate-warming emissions in the near term

Climate change poses challenges for policy, risks to growth: RBI report

Frequent weather shocks caused by climate change pose challenges for the monetary policy as well as downside risks to economic growth, a Reserve Bank report said. Global average temperatures are on a rise, with accompanying increase in extreme weather events (EWE), and the economic and social impact of global warming is becoming increasingly evident, said RBI's Monetary Policy Report April 2024. The report said that climate change has increased the frequency and ferocity of weather shocks, posing challenges for monetary policy. It said there are different channels through which climate change can affect monetary policy. Climate change directly impacts inflation through adverse weather events affecting agricultural production and global supply chains, climate change could impact the natural rate of interest, and the after-effects of climate change might weaken the transmission of monetary policy actions to financing conditions faced by households and firms. "For these reasons, cen

Climate change threatens constitutional guarantee of right to equality: SC

Climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of the right to equality, the Supreme court has said while constituting a committee to find a balance between conservation of critically-endangered Great Indian Bustard and renewable energy infrastructure in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The top court recalled an earlier order of April 2021 that required undergrounding of overhead transmission lines across an area of over 80,000 sq km in the two states. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said a blanket direction for undergrounding high voltage and low voltage power lines needs recalibration. "Climate change may impact the constitutional guarantee of the right to equality. Without a clean environment which is stable and unimpacted by the vagaries of climate change, the right to life is not fully realised. The right to health (which is a part of the right to life under Article 21) is impacted due to factors such as air pollutio

Sustainability has to be at core of development in 21st century: UNGA prez

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has said that there is no conflict between promoting sustainability and economic growth and development, underscoring that sustainability has to be the anchor for development in the 21st century. Francis will convene the UN's first-ever Sustainability Week' April 15-19 under the theme Paving the Way for a Sustainable Future' at the world body's headquarters here. The week will feature dedicated events focused on sustainability in critical sectors such as tourism, infrastructure connectivity, transport, energy and debt. The reality is that sustainability has to be the anchor for development in the 21st century. Since we are talking about prioritizing people and the planet, the sustainability dimension of things lies at the very heart of everything we are seeking to do developmentally in the UN, Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, told PTI in an exclusive interview here. We have identified five key areas or .