Page 6 - Climate Change

Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia

Floods that damaged hydropower dams in Nepal and destroyed the main bridge connecting the country to China show the vulnerability of infrastructure and need for smart rebuilding in a region bearing the brunt of a warming planet, experts say. The flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on July 8 also killed nine people and damaged an inland container depot that was being built to support increasing trade between the two countries. The 10 damaged hydropower facilities, including three under construction, have a combined capacity that could power 600,000 South Asian homes. Another smaller flood in the area on July 30 damaged roads and structures, but caused less overall destruction. Nepal's location in the Himalayan mountains makes it especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because the area is warming up faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Climate experts say the increasing frequency of extreme weather has changed the playbook for assessin

A Billion Butterflies: This book drops truth bombs on climate change

How an old deal over a supercomputer explains the politics behind climate science today

Pak launches remote sensing satellite from China to tackle climate woes

Pakistan on Thursday launched a new remote sensing satellite from China aimed at enhancing its capacity to monitor and respond to climate change-related threats. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China with technical support from Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), which played a key role in the launch. The Satellite is expected to play a critical role in addressing pressing challenges including floods, landslides, glacier melt and deforestation, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal hailed the development in a social media post: Today marks another proud moment for our nation as Pakistan successfully launches its fourth Earth Observation Satellite under the URAAN (flight) Pakistan Space Program from the XiChang Space Centre, China. Iqbal praised SUPARCO's contribution and said the achievement reflects the growing strength of PakistanChina space cooperation. This ...

Small coalitions could unlock $66 bn a year to fight climate change: Study

Small coalitions of fossil fuel-importing nations can raise $66 billion annually through cooperative levies to help low-income countries cut emissions and fight climate change

Honolulu lawsuit against fossil fuel firms leads climate change legal fight

Honolulu is not alone in its effort to sue fossil fuel companies to hold them accountable for climate change harms, but the city's lawsuit is further along than similar litigation across the country. A hearing on Tuesday will indicate how these fights play out in court. In 2020, Hawaii's capital city sued major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron, arguing they knew for nearly half a century that fossil fuel products create greenhouse gas pollution that warms the planet and changes the climate. The companies have also profited from the consumption of oil, coal and natural gas while deceiving the public about the role of their products in causing a global climate crisis, the lawsuit says. Honolulu's lawsuit blames the companies for the sea level rise around the island of Oahu's world-famous coastline. It also warns that hurricanes, heatwaves and other extreme weather will be more frequent, along with ocean warming that will reduce fish stocks and kill coral reefs tha

Onion, potato prices went up over 80% in 2024 due to climate change: Study

Food prices in India saw a sharp rise in 2024 due to an unusually severe heatwave, with onion and potato prices jumping by more than 80 per cent in the second quarter of the year, according to a new study. The study, led by Maximilian Kotz of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and involving researchers from the European Central Bank, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the UK's Food Foundation, investigated 16 extreme weather-driven food price shocks across 18 countries between 2022 and 2024. It found that many of these events exceeded all historical precedents before 2020 and were strongly influenced by global warming. "In India, the price of onions and potatoes jumped by over 80 per cent in the second quarter of 2024 after a heatwave in May, a 'largely unique event' that was made at least 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer by climate change," the researchers said. The year 2024 was the hottest on record and the first with a global average temperature 1.5 degrees Celsius ab

Europe, China agree to take action on climate change during Beijing summit

China and the European Union have issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine. The two economic juggernauts issued a joint statement on climate change, urging more emission cuts and greater use of green technology and affirming their support for the Paris Climate Agreement as well as calling for strong action at the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil. In the fluid and turbulent international situation today, it is crucial that all countries, notably the major economies, maintain policy continuity and stability and step up efforts to address climate change, the joint statement said. Their climate agreement was a silver lining on a stormy day where European leaders demanded a more balanced relationship with China in talks with President Xi Jinping. They highlighted trade in their opening remarks, calling for concrete progress to address Europe's

Thermostat setting: India's move towards energy-efficient AC solutions

We often see airconditioning as a luxury that middle-class families and small businesses cannot afford

Climate change an 'existential threat', states legally bound to act: ICJ

In a historic development, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has declared that climate change constitutes an "urgent, existential threat" and that states have binding legal obligations to address it. The court's first-ever advisory opinion on climate change, unanimously adopted by all 15 judges, provides unprecedented clarity on the responsibilities of nations under international law and paves the way for a wave of climate litigation worldwide. The ICJ on Wednesday ruled that states must take all necessary steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, halt fossil fuel expansion and provide reparations to vulnerable countries suffering climate-related harm. It found that failure to act on emissions, including through fossil fuel production, subsidies and licenses, could constitute an "internationally wrongful act" attributable to the state. Judge Iwasawa Yuji, delivering the opinion, called climate change a "concern of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life", addin

India needs $2.4 trn to build climate-resilient infra by 2050: World Bank

India needs over $2.4 trillion by 2050 to meet the infrastructure needs of its urban population, which is expected to nearly double, says the World Bank in a new report

World has only 3 years left to avert worst impact of climate change: Study

As more countries develop their climate plans, it's time for leaders across the globe to face the hard truths of climate science

How extreme weather from climate change is spiking your grocery bills

Climate change brings with it higher temperatures and extreme rains, which can lower yields and make the crops that are harvested more expensive

Best of BS Opinion: Why Sebi needs to do more on derivatives trading

Today's opinion page discusses the recent clampdown on Jane Street, government transparency, India's milk market, and the future of Mumbai's real estate because of climate change

RBI Dy Guv bats for global unity, tech transfer to fight climate change

RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has called for enhanced global cooperation including technology transfer and R&D funding to deal with challenges posed by the climate change. Stressing that no country can achieve net-zero in isolation, he said climate change is the quintessential global challenge and so the response. Rao was speaking at the Conference on Green Infrastructure Finance at College of Agriculture Banking, RBI here recently. "There is a requirement of enhanced global cooperation in this regard which must also extend to technology transfer, R&D funding, and skills development to enable development of technical expertise to identify, design, and structure bankable sustainable and green infrastructure projects," he said. The Reserve Bank posted his speech on its website on Friday. The Deputy Governor said that the focus needs to shift from project-based finance to overall market development with policy reforms, development of a project pipeline, and consistent ...

Trump tariffs push Asia toward American LNG at the cost of climate goals

Asian countries are offering to buy more US liquefied natural gas in negotiations with the Trump administration as a way to alleviate tensions over US trade deficits and forestall higher tariffs. Analysts warn that strategy could undermine those countries' long-term climate ambitions and energy security. Buying more US LNG has topped the list of concessions Asian countries have offered in talks with Washington over President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on foreign goods. Vietnam's Prime Minister underlined the need to buy more of the super-chilled fuel in a government meeting, and the government signed a deal in May with an American company to develop a gas import hub. JERA, Japan's largest power generator, signed new 20-year contracts last month to purchase up to 5.5 million metric tons of US gas annually starting around 2030. US efforts to sell more LNG to Asia predate the Trump administration, but they've gained momentum with his intense push to win trade deals. Liquefied ...

India's long overdue low-carbon development plan likely to see light

The climate strategy may pave the path to a national carbon budget, an element critical in achieving net zero, but increase costs for companies transitioning to low-emission strategies

US won't publish major climate change report on Nasa website as promised

The Trump administration has taken another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. "The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host globalchange.gov's data," NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or t

G20 watchdog outlines climate risk plan but halts further policy work

The US has withdrawn from multiple groups dedicated to exploring how flooding and wildfires and big climate-related policy shifts could impact financial stability

Paradise lost as climate change remakes Europe's summer weather

As southern Europeans dream of fjords, the traditional hot spots and fixtures of travel agency package deals no longer seem so desirable

Life-threatening heat domes challenge forecasters amid climate change

This phenomenon has also already struck Europe and China this summer, leading to the temporary closure of the Eiffel Tower and worries about wilting rice crops, respectively