Page 39 - Climate Change

Working to dramatically increase international climate financing: Biden

President Joe Biden has said that he is working with the US Congress to dramatically increase international climate financing while asserting that the world stands at an inflection point. In his address to a select group of world leaders at the APEC informal dialogue and working lunch on Thursday, Biden said every economy is seeing signs of what's to come -- droughts, floods, rise in sea levels and temperatures, and unpredictable weather patterns -- if action is not taken. Our world stands at an inflection point, a point where the decisions we make now are going to determine the course of the world, not just a few of our countries, for the next several decades of consequence, Biden said. Nowhere is that more true than when it comes to climate. Every economy around this table faces this challenge, every one of us. And as I've said before, it's the only existential threat to humanity. We either get this right or there's not going to be a whole lot of people around to talk about it. A

Best of BS Opinion: Changing saving habits, Cash for votes & more

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

A blueprint for climate finance at COP28

India must advocate for reshaping the discourse on climate finance, shifting the focus from annual to cumulative emissions

World needs $172 billion more to face climate impacts than estimates show

There is not one assessment of the investment required for adaptation; in fact, there are two, and they have significantly different dollar figures

Asian economies must ramp up wind and solar power: Report on global warming

To meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), nine major Asian economies must increase the share of electricity they get from renewable energy from the current 6% to at least 50% by 2030, according to a report by a German thinktank released Wednesday. Nearly a third of that renewable energy should come from wind and solar power, said the report by researchers of Berlin-based Agora Energiewende. A fifth would be hydropower and other clean sources and the remainder, fossil fuels. The study analysed energy plans of both developing nations like Indonesia and Vietnam, where demand for energy is growing rapidly, and wealthier places like Japan and South Korea, which have among the highest burdens of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. It did not include China, the world's biggest emitter of carbon, or India, another major contributor. A global temperature increase of 1.5C (2.7F) since pre-industrial times is considered a critical climate ...

Yearly heat-related deaths to see fivefold rise by mid-century: Lancet

The yearly heat-related deaths are likely to increase nearly fivefold the current numbers by mid-century if current temperature trends continue and there is no substantial progress on adaptation, according to a report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. Against this backdrop of climate inaction, the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change in its eighth annual global report projects heat-related labour loss might increase by 50 per cent. Heatwaves alone could lead to 524.9 million additional people experiencing moderate-to-severe food insecurity by 2041-60, aggravating the global risk of malnutrition, it said. The report further projects an increased spread of life-threatening infectious diseases by mid-century, with the length of coastline suitable for Vibrio pathogens expanding by 17-25 per cent, and the transmission potential for dengue increasing by 36-37 per cent. Vibrio pathogens are responsible for food-borne diseases such as cholera. The Lancet Count

Record-breaking rise in greenhouse gases threatens climate goals: WMO

The concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere once again hit a new record last year and there appears to be no halt to this escalating trend, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The global averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), considered the most critical greenhouse gas, were a staggering 50 per cent above the pre-industrial era (1850-1900) in 2022 for the first time. These levels have continued to escalate in 2023, it said. The WMO's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin noted that although the growth rate in CO2 concentrations was slightly lower than the preceding year and the decade's average, this decline was likely due to short-term variations in the carbon cycle. The report highlighted that new emissions from industrial activities continued to rise. Methane concentrations also grew, and levels of nitrous oxide, the third main gas, saw the highest year-on-year increase on record from 2021 to 2022, according to the ...

China and US pledge to step up climate efforts ahead of Biden-Xi summit

China and the U.S. have pledged to accelerate their efforts to address climate change ahead of a major U.N. meeting on the issue, making a commitment to take steps to reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases besides carbon dioxide. The joint announcement came on the eve of a summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping that is aimed at stabilizing the rocky U.S.-China relationship. Cooperation between the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases is considered vital to the success of the U.N. climate talks opening in two weeks in Dubai. It wasn't clear earlier this year whether the two governments would cooperate, given a sharp deterioration in ties over other issues including technology, Taiwan and Russia's war in Ukraine. Both countries are aware of the important role they play and will work together ... to rise up to one of the greatest challenges of our time, they said in a statement released Wednesday in Beijing and Tuesday evening in Washington. The

Heat-related deaths likely to increase fivefold by mid-century: Lancet

In 2022, individuals were, on average, exposed to 86 days of health-threatening high temperatures, of which 60 per cent were at least twice as likely to occur because of human-caused climate change.

Climate injustice: There's a US-shaped hole in every feasible solution

With the US unable or unwilling to make any credible commitments, the rest of the world is floundering around trying to compensate for its lack of leadership

UAE leverages oil power to push secretive oil cos on emission cuts: Report

The effort, termed as the Global Decarbonisation Alliance, aims to make a significant impact at the COP28 negotiations starting on November 30 in Dubai

Earth records its hottest 12-month stretch due to climate change: Research

As per a report from Climate Central, the planet ran nearly 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average from November 2022 through October 2023

CEA highlights integral link between climate, development agendas

There is an integral link between climate and development agendas, Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran said on Friday. Nageswaran made the statement while inaugurating a session of NITI Aayog's workshop on accessing multilateral development banks (MDBs) and global finance for development and green growth on Friday. "Issues surrounding the global challenge of leveraging private capital for social goals were discussed," NITI Aayog said in a statement. The deliberations focused on changing Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to work on broader programs instead of individual projects, the statement added. NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery chaired the second session on "Implications for a Strengthened and Bigger MDB System for India", which focused on the impacts of a stronger MDB system, especially with the goal of tripling lending volume by 2030. According to the statement, India's focus on becoming investable, especially in green hydrogen and ammonia, was highlighted. The

India, UK share climate action goals, says British Indian minister

Britain's newest Indian-origin Cabinet minister, Claire Coutinho, has spoken of the shared energy and climate change goals between the two countries in her first major diaspora speech as UK Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero. The 38-year-old Goan-origin Conservative MP, promoted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a recent Cabinet reshuffle, joked about setting somewhat of a trend as the latest British Indian member in frontline British politics at a diaspora Diwali reception organised by India Global Forum (IGF) here on Thursday evening. As the second Cabinet minister of Goan heritage after Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Coutinho stressed the hugely important India-UK partnership and the potential for further collaboration in the climate action sphere. I am not the first British Indian Cabinet member. I'm not even the first Goan Cabinet member because we are starting quite a trend in this country, said Coutinho. The relationship, that living bridge that we have with India,

EU's major plan aimed at fighting climate change to go to final votes

European Union institutions and conservationists on Friday gave a conditional and guarded welcome to a major plan to better protect nature and fight climate change in the 27-nation bloc. The plan is a key part of the EU's vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world's most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. Yet it has had an extremely rough ride through the EU's complicated approval process and only a watered down version will now proceed to final votes. Late Thursday's breakthrough agreement between parliament and EU member states should have normally been the end of the approval process. But given the controversy the plan had previously stirred, the final votes - normally a rubberstamp process - could still throw up some hurdles. The plan has lost some of its progressive edge during negotiations over the summer because of fierce opposition in the EU's legislature, particularly from the

Decoupling of emissions and GDP not yet achieved: RBI deputy governor Patra

Patra further said that central banks and financial institutions must actively address climate change, as it impacts their mandates of price and financial stability

Climate action imposes heavy cost on developing nations, says CEA

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday said climate action, including energy transition, impose a heavy cost on developing nations. Observing that emerging countries are already grappling with twin challenges of poverty alleviation and economic growth, he said climate change and energy transition are an added burden. Energy transition must bear three costs, including rise in costs of production from rising fuel cost and higher costs of new energy sources as they replace traditional sources, he said at an event organised by Centre for Social and Economic Progress. He suggested that developing countries need to build the ship even as they are sailing. India has announced that it aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 and meet 50 per cent of its electricity requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced more ambitious targets for 2030, including installing 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, reducing the emiss

COP28: A mirror to pledges and promises

With climate change-induced disasters multiplying, the Dubai summit cannot afford to be just a talk shop

Hot October makes 2023 'virtually certain' to be warmest year ever

Both November and December would need to be significantly colder than average in order for 2023 to avoid becoming the hottest year ever

COP28 looks set for conflict after negotiations on climate damage fund

Tense negotiations at the final meeting on a climate-related loss and damages fund an international fund to help poor countries hit hard by a warming planet ended Saturday in Abu Dhabi, with participants agreeing that the World Bank would temporarily host the fund for the next four years. The United States and several developing countries expressed disappointment in the draft agreement, which will be sent for global leaders to sign at the COP28 climate conference, which begins in Dubai later this month. The US State Department, whose officials joined the negotiations in Abu Dhabi, said in a statement it was pleased with an agreement being reached but regretted that the consensus reached among negotiators about donations to the fund being voluntary is not reflected in the final agreement. The agreement lays out basic goals for the fund, including for its planned launch in 2024, and specifies how it will be administered and who will oversee it, including a requirement for developing