Page 46 - Climate Change

'Developed nations overconsuming carbon budget; too little left for others'

Developed countries have consumed more than 80 per cent of the global carbon budget, leaving countries like India with very little carbon space for the future, the government said on Thursday. Responding to a question by BJP MP CM Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha that India is doing far more than its fair share to combat climate change. Developed countries have consumed more than 80 per cent of the global carbon budget (since 1850) for limiting average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, leaving countries like India with "very little carbon space for the future", the minister said. Rich nations are "eating into even this reduced entitlement" for India. Despite this, India has chosen to walk its climate talk, conscious of the need to pioneer a sustainable development pathway for the entire globe, while attending to the needs and aspirations of its people, economy and society, he said. Climate science defines carbon budg

IMD Weather Today (Aug 10): Subdued rain over these parts of country

IMD predicted that there's possibility of isolated severe rainfall over Uttarakhand till August 13. IMD also predicted that subdued rains will take place in Central, South India, and West

Brazil's Amazon Summit ends with roadmap to protect world's rainforests

Brazil's Amazon Summit closed on Wednesday with a roadmap to protect tropical rainforests that was welcomed as an important step in countering climate change, but without the concrete commitments sought by some environmentalists to end deforestation. Leaders and ministers from eight Amazon nations signed a declaration Tuesday in Belem, Brazil, that laid out plans to drive economic development in their countries while preventing the Amazon's ongoing demise from reaching a point of no return. Several environmental groups described the declaration as a compilation of good intentions with little in the way of measurable goals and timeframes. However, it was lauded by others, and the Amazon's umbrella organization of Indigenous groups celebrated the inclusion of two of its main demands. It is significant that the leaders of the countries of the region have listened to the science and understood the call of society: the Amazon is in danger, and we do not have much time to act, the ...

Amazon nations seek common voice on matter of climate change, urge action

Eight Amazon nations urged industrialised countries on Tuesday to do more to help preserve the world's largest rainforest as their leaders met at a major summit in Brazil to chart a common course on how to combat climate change. They said the task of stopping the destruction of the rainforest can't fall to just a few countries when climate change has been caused by many. The members of the newly revived Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, or ACTO, hope a united front will give them a major voice in global environment talks. It is time to look at the heart of our continent and consolidate, once and for all, our Amazon identity, said Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. The leaders aim to fuel much-needed economic development in their countries while preventing the Amazon's ongoing demise from reaching a point of no return, according to a joint declaration issued Tuesday, the first day of the two-day summit. Some scientists say that when 20 per cent to 25 per cent of th

July was hottest month on record by far, European scientists confirm

Now that July's sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organisation made it official: July 2023 was Earth's hottest month on record by a wide margin. July's global average temperature of 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 degrees Fahrenheit) was a third of a degree Celsius (six tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) higher than the previous record set in 2019, Copernicus Climate Change Service, a division of the European Union's space programme, announced Tuesday. Normally global temperature records are broken by hundredths or a tenth of a degree, so this margin is unusual. These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet exposed to ever more frequent and intense extreme events," said Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess. There have been deadly heat waves in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, Europe and Asia. Scientific quick studies put the blame on human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Days in July hav

Delhi's draft climate action plan aims to reduce dependence on hydropower

As Delhi prepares for the impact of climate change, the city government's draft action plan proposes a reduction in the national capital's reliance on hydropower from other states, taking into account potential future challenges to generation capacity due to changes in temperature and precipitation. According to the Delhi Economic Survey 2022-23, the total electricity procured by Delhi in 2021-22 stood at 37,460 million units. Of this, about 16.65 per cent came from power plants owned by the Delhi government. The rest was bought from the central government and other states. With climate projections indicating rising temperatures and intensified periods of heavy rainfall, the energy and power sector in Delhi faces a slew of challenges. Extreme weather events, rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns pose threats to both infrastructure and supply security. Hydropower output can be severely affected by changes in temperature and precipitation. Since Delhi doesn't have its

Climate change could downgrade India's credit rating, study finds

India's sovereign credit rating could be downgraded due to the impact of climate change and the rise in temperature volatility by as early as the 2030s, according to a study. The team, led by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of Cambridge, UK, found that deferring green investments will increase costs of borrowing for nations, which will translate into higher costs of corporate debt. The study, published on Monday in the journal Management Science, is the first to anchor climate science within real world financial indicators. It suggests that 59 nations will experience a drop in sovereign credit rating in the next decade without emissions reduction. Sovereign ratings assess the creditworthiness of countries and are a key gauge for investors. Covering more than USD 66 trillion in sovereign debt, the ratings and agencies behind them act as gatekeepers to global capital. The researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate the economic ..

UK supports UAE, looks forward for strong participation at COP28: Envoy

He spoke about the UK's vision of the importance of COP28 and its role in bringing about a quantum leap in global climate action as one of the main areas of joint cooperation between the two countries

Businesses optimistic on demand, climatic factors a concern: Britannia

Businesses in India are optimistic on demand conditions despite apprehensions about global recession though challenges from a shortfall in monsoon due to 'El Nino' conditions still persist, said leading bakery and food company Britannia Industries. The trajectory of inflation during FY24 would depend on a host of domestic and global factors, said Britannia Industries in its latest annual report. "The outlook for the food prices and rural growth would depend significantly on climatic factors and adequacy of monsoon rainfall," it said. Any shortfall in monsoon due to the 'El Nino' conditions as forecasted, would also have a higher impact on rural consumption and the Indian economy as a whole. "Availability and prices of input materials like wheat, sugar, milk and edible oil could be affected, thereby posing severe risks to the business growth," it said. According to Britannia Industries, makers of popular brands such as Good Day, Tiger, NutriChoice, Milk Bikis, and Marie Gold, milk

Thus begins our season of despair

We must not slip into believing that fixing this mess is beyond our control. Then there is no way ahead. This would be the ultimate tragedy

Winter vanishes, heat scorches the Andes as climate change meets El Nino

"What to do?" Chilean Environment Minister Maisa Rojas, who is also a physicist and climatologist, said in a series of Twitter posts. "We know the solution: stop burning fossil fuels urgently!

Climate change made July hotter for 4 of 5 humans on Earth: Scientists

Human-caused global warming made July hotter for four out of five people on Earth, with more than 2 billion people feeling climate change-boosted warmth daily, according to a flash study. More than 6.5 billion people, or 81% of the world's population, sweated through at least one day where climate change had a significant effect on the average daily temperature, according to a new report issued Wednesday by Climate Central, a science nonprofit that has figured a way to calculate how much climate change has affected daily weather. We really are experiencing climate change just about everywhere, said Climate Central Vice President for Science Andrew Pershing. Researchers looked at 4,711 cities and found climate change fingerprints in 4,019 of them for July, which other scientists said is the hottest month on record. The new study calculated that the burning of coal, oil and natural gas had made it three times more likely to be hotter on at least one day in those cities. In the US, whe

Flooding in Beijing highlights climate change's impact on rainfall

So far this year, rain-induced flooding has hit regions that include India, the Philippines and California and Vermont in the US

War, AI and climate change shaking up $32 trillion in global trade

Long before these trends are reflected in government data, they're already changing global commerce, which amounts to $32 trillion a year in goods and services

UAE state oil firm moves up its net zero emissions climate target to 2045

A state-run oil giant in the United Arab Emirates said on Monday it has moved up its target for achieving net zero emissions in its operations to 2045, as the country prepares to host UN climate talks later this year. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, known as ADNOC, said it is also committed to acheiving zero methane emissions by 2030. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Earlier this year, ADNOC earmarked USD 15 billion for an array of green initiatives, including the development of hydrogen power, carbon capture facilities and the planting of mangroves. The company had previously committed to net zero the balancing of greenhouse gas emissions to the point that the amount removed from the atmosphere is equal to the amount emitted by 2050. The UAE, an OPEC member that produces over 3 million barrels of crude oil a day, will host the global climate talks known as COP28 from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai. It has

Melting of Ladakh glacier could form three glacial lakes, says study

Accelerated melting of the Himalayan Parkachik Glacier in Ladakh could give rise to three glacial lakes with an average depth ranging between 34 and 84 metres, scientists have found. These lakes could be a potential source of glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalayas, the scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, said. Parkachik Glacier is one of the largest glacier in the Suru River valley, which is a part of the Southern Zanskar Ranges, western Himalaya. The Zanskar Range, part of the Himalayas, lies in the union territory of Ladakh. The glacier's yearly melting rate was 6 times faster between 1999 and 2021 (22 years) than that calculated from 1971 to 1999 (28 years), the scientists found using satellite data to determine its glacial retreat from 1971-2021. The findings are published in the journal Annals of Glaciology. The study attributed the accelerated glacial retreat to ongoing climate warming, which also causes surface morphological or geologic

G20 ministers reach agreement on most climate issues: Bhupendar Yadav

Environment Minister Bhupendar Yadav on Friday said the G20 climate ministers' meeting in Chennai on Friday wrapped up with success, with the countries agreeing on 64 out of 68 issues. However, the chair's summary of the meeting highlighted the lack of unity among nations on key issues crucial for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius such as phasing down unabated fossil fuels, increasing renewable energy, and providing low-cost financing for developing countries. The meeting comes after the bloc, responsible for 85 per cent of the world's GDP and 80 per cent of the emissions, failed to reach a consensus on tripling renewable energy capacity to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030, phasing down the unabated use of fossil fuels and plans to finance the transition during the Energy Ministerial Meeting held in Goa last week. According to the chair's summary, which spells out the issues that lacked agreement, the bloc discussed accelerating the scaling up of renewable energy, tripling of .

We must join hands to tackle climate change: CII Eenrgy Conference

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Karnataka on Friday organised its annual flagship energy conference on the theme 'Integrated Renewable Energy System for Sustainable Future' to promote adoption and integration of renewable energy sources into the existing energy infrastructure. The conference focused on key facets of the sector including renewable energy integration, alternative energy technology aiming at net-zero, energy storage solution technologies and best practices on energy conservation measures from industries. Addressing the conference, Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan, Chairman, CII Karnataka State Council and Managing Director, Kennametal India Ltd, emphasised the significance of the sector, considering the intensifying focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), energy efficiency and ethical and responsible sourcing of energy. Highlighting the Karnataka State Vision document charted by CII and IIM Bangalore, he said that building a green ecosystem has emerged

July set to be hottest month as temperatures breach 2019 high: Scientists

July this year is set to be the hottest month on record with average temperatures exceeding that of July 2019 by a significant margin, according to a new analysis by scientists. The EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) noted that these temperatures have been related to heatwaves in large parts of North America, Asia and Europe, which along with wildfires in countries including Canada and Greece, have had major impacts on people's health, the environment and economies. Data shows that the previous hottest month on record was July 2019. According to the new analysis, the global mean surface air temperature averaged for the first 23 days of July 2023 was 16.95 degrees Celsius. This is well above the 16.63 degrees recorded for the full month of July 2019, which is currently the warmest July and warmest month on record. At this stage, the report said, it is virtually certain that the full monthly average temperature for July 2

Global warming: An overheating planet requires extreme solutions

Rising causes of death would include not just heat itself but exposure to ground-level ozone, malaria, dengue, and West Nile virus