Page 3 - Climate Change

As world leaders enter climate talks, people in poverty have most at stake

When summer heat comes to the Arara neighbourhood in northern Rio, it lingers, baking the red brick and concrete that make up many of the buildings long after the sun has gone down. Luis Cassiano, who's lived here more than 30 years, says he's getting worried as heat waves become more frequent and fierce. In poor areas such as Arara, those who can afford air conditioning Cassiano is one can't always count on it because of frequent power outages on an overloaded system. Cassiano gets some relief from the green roof he installed about a decade ago, which can keep his house up to 15 degrees Celsius (about 27 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than his neighbour's, but he still struggles to stay comfortable. The sun in the summer nowadays is scary, Cassiano said. As world leaders come to Brazil for climate talks, people like Cassiano are the ones with the most at stake. Poor communities are often more vulnerable to hazards like extreme heat and supersized storms and less likely to have the ..

Kshema General Insurance to receive $20 million capital infusion from GCF

The capital received will be utilised to expand Kshema's offerings to reach a wider number of uninsured farmers and their crops, strengthening its underwriting capacity.

Heat could kill 46 people per hour in South Asia by 2045, study finds

A study in the journal Tropical Medicine and Health projects that climate change could double South Asia's annual heat-related deaths to nearly 400,000 by 2045, with India and Pakistan most at risk

COP30 Brasil: India seeks green dollars as Gates mutes climate doom

As COP30 heads to Belem, India aims to push finance and tech for the Global South - but will it bring real capital or just more promises and targets?

One person dies from extreme heat every minute worldwide: Lancet report

The 2025 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change reveals a 63 per cent rise in heat-related deaths since the 1990s, warning that humanity is edging towards survival limits

Heat-related deaths: Every minute, one person dies from heat

The world is heating, but it is not just the planet that’s burning. Every minute, somewhere on Earth, someone dies from heat

Indians faced nearly 20 heatwave days in 2024 on average: Lancet report

People in India each experienced nearly 20 heatwave days in 2024 on average, of which about six-and-a-half days would not be expected were it not for climate change, according to a new global report published by The Lancet journal. Estimates suggest that an exposure to heat in 2024 resulted in a loss of 247 billion potential labour hours per year -- a record high of nearly 420 hours per person -- and 124 per cent more than that during 1990-1999. The agriculture sector accounted for 66 per cent, and construction sector for 20 per cent of the losses in 2024, according to the '2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change'. A reduced capacity of labour due to the extreme heat is associated with a potential loss of income of USD 194 billion in 2024, it said. An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies, led by University College London, were involved in producing the ninth edition of the report. Published ahead of the 30th UN ..

Bill Gates rejects 'doomsday' narrative, calls for balance on climate

Bill Gates urges a shift from "doomsday" climate narratives to strategies that balance emissions cuts with health, development, and adaptation ahead of the COP30 summit in Brazil

UN report warns countries still far from meeting Paris climate goals

Ten years after the Paris Agreement was adopted, a latest UN report has showed that countries are making progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions but not fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report, released by the UN Climate Change on Tuesday, said the 64 new national climate plans submitted between January 2024 and September 2025 would collectively cut emissions by about 17 per cent below the 2019 levels by 2035. Though this marks "real and increasing progress", the report said that "major acceleration is still needed in terms of delivering faster and deeper emission reductions and ensuring that the benefits of strong climate action reach all countries and peoples". NDCs are climate action plans that every country makes under the Paris Agreement. These plans set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and outline how each country will adapt to the impacts of climate change. Together, these

COP out? The world's climate talks on global warming seem stuck in repeat

30 years, 30 COPs - still counting degrees. Is this where promises go to melt? This two-part series on COP30 tracks how the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake

Overlapping crises: How global warming is deepening global poverty

Since climate change is a global phenomenon, it is equally critical that countries work on mutually reinforcing climate-action plans beyond the individual emission-reduction targets

India may put climate finance, adaptation at core of COP30 agenda

UNDP India's Ashish Chaturvedi says the country will focus on fair transitions, stronger partnerships, and climate-resilient development at the Brazil summit

COP30 in Brazil faces world at its hottest and most divided on climate

As COP30 opens in Brazil, record CO₂ levels and faltering global leadership leave climate goals in peril, testing the world's resolve to act on its promises

WHO launches 5-year plan to protect Asia-Pacific from climate disasters

With Asia and the Pacific among the most climate-vulnerable regions, WHO's new blueprint aims to build resilient health systems and protect millions from rising risks.

Coal may singe net-zero journey as India readies updated climate pledge

Indian policymakers are drawing up an updated climate change pledge to be presented to the UN by early November. The world's watching closely

Why climate summits fail and 3 urgent ways to make them work better

We urgently need not just to redesign climate policies but also a new method for drafting those polices

A decade after Paris summit, the world's climate promises lie in ruins

The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 legitimised the evisceration of the UN climate framework - and history may repeat itself at COP 30 in Belem

CO2 levels hit record high in 2024, driving more extreme weather: UN agency

The UN weather agency said Wednesday that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit new record highs last year, and heat trapped by such greenhouse gases is turbo-charging the Earth's climate and causing more extreme weather. The World Meteorological Organisation said in its latest bulletin on greenhouse gases that C02 growth rates have now tripled since the 1960s, and emissions from human activities and more wildfires helped fan a vicious climate cycle." The Geneva-based agency said the increase of the global average concentration of carbon dioxide from 2023 to 2024 amounted to the highest annual level of any one-year span since measurements began in 1957. The heat trapped by CO2 and other greenhouse gases is turbo-charging our climate and leading to more extreme weather," said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett in a statement. "Reducing emissions is therefore essential not just for our climate but also for our economic security and community well-being, The increase in 202

India calls on COP30 to focus on lack of funds for developing nations

India has said the United Nations climate conference in Belm, Brazil, should focus on tackling the critical shortage of resources that developing countries need to adapt to climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing the Global Stock Take (GST) breakout session during the pre-COP30 meeting in Brasilia on Monday, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the time for continuous reviews without action has passed. "Dialogue is important, but action is imperative," he said. "We must now focus on implementing ambitious climate measures and, above all, addressing the most pressing challenge: the urgent lack of resources for developing countries to deliver adaptation and mitigation," Yadav said. The GST is a periodic review under the Paris Agreement 2015 that assesses the world's collective progress toward limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Held every five years, it examines countries' actions on mitigation, adaptation and finance and guides them to ...

India urges focus on adaptation of climate commitments at pre-COP30 meet

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday said COP30 should be the "COP of Adaptation" and called for transforming climate commitments into real-world actions that directly improve people's lives. At the Pre-COP30 Ministerial Roundtable in Braslia, Yadav said the 30th UN climate summit in Belm, Brazil, in November must send a strong signal that multilateralism remains the cornerstone of global climate action. "As we mark a decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, COP30 must send a resolute political message that multilateralism remains the cornerstone of global climate action," Yadav said. He said the key to achieving tangible outcomes in Belm lies in translating global policy commitments into practical, locally grounded solutions. "The focus must be on transforming climate commitments into real-world actions that accelerate implementation and directly improve people's lives," he said. Calling for a stronger focus on resilience and local adaptation, Yadav stres