Page 7 - Climate Change

Coconut prices triple within a year in Kerala, disrupting temple rituals

Coconut output has dropped due to farming neglect and climate change, driving up prices. Temple offerings of coconut are down 30%, and oil use for lamps is being cut to cope with the rising costs

Fossil fuel combustion caused 1,500 deaths in European heat wave: Study

Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it had not been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century, said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people

China's blistering heat leaves workers exposed as gig economy booms

According to The Lancet, yearly heat wave-related deaths in China have now nearly doubled compared with 1986 to 2005, with more than 37,000 deaths in 2023 alone

As the world warms up, extreme rain is becoming even more extreme

Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, and as temperatures rise, storms can produce bigger downpours

Rivers as kin, not property: A powerful case for ecological empathy

There is hope that we can conserve what remains and revive what has been lost of our rivers - but it begins with acknowledging that a river is a living, breathing entity

Reports on climate change effect on US disappear from federal websites

The legally mandated assessments seem to have disappeared from federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. Websites for the national assessments and the US Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. Searches on NASA websites did not turn them up. NASA did not respond to requests for information. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which coordinated the information in the assessments, did not respond to repeated inquiries. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within NASA to comply with the law, but gave no further details. Scientists say the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. It's critical for decision makers across the country to know what the science in the National Climate Assessment is, University

Heatwaves grip Europe: Red alerts, wildfires, Eiffel Tower closed

Spain sees hottest June in a century; more than 50,000 people evacuated amid wildfires in Turkiye and the Balkans

Europe hit by extreme heatwave after recording hottest March ever

'Very high and persistent temperatures are expected, both during the day and at night, which could pose a risk to exposed and/or vulnerable people,' Spain's state meteorological office, Aemet said

Centre issues draft rules to ease tree felling on farms, boost agroforestry

The Centre has issued model rules for the felling of trees on agricultural land in a bid to promote agroforestry with the aim of doubling farmers' incomes, increasing tree cover outside forests and mitigating climate change. In a letter sent to all state governments on June 19, the environment ministry said the objective of 'Model Rules for Felling of Trees in Agricultural Lands' is to enhance the ease of doing business in agroforestry and incentivise farmers to integrate trees into their farming systems without facing undue procedural hurdles. The government has been promoting agroforestry to double farmers' income, enhance tree cover outside forests, mitigate climate change, reduce timber imports and ensure sustainable land use. It also supports India's climate goals under the Paris Agreement. A key barrier is the lack of clear, harmonised rules for felling trees on agricultural land which affects cultivation and marketing of agroforestry produce, according to the ...

Asian climate red alert: Moving to net zero will best serve its poorest

The exceptionally high temperatures on Asia's landmass last year had its knock-on effect on 15 million sq km of ocean area, one-tenth of the earth's ocean surface

UK heat wave could claim nearly 600 lives this week, scientists warn

Saturday is expected to be the deadliest day, with an estimate of 266 heat-related deaths, nearly half of which could be recorded in London, according to the researchers

Insurers clock rise in parametric claims amid extreme weather events

Climate volatility drives higher parametric insurance claims, but insurers say limited awareness and distribution hinder adoption despite strong growth potential

India needs to build a credible carbon market, minus an offset mechanism

Not including all hard-to-abate sectors in carbon emission intensity targets will reduce market size and impact liquidity. Offset mechanism isn't a solution

Moody's says updated climate goals may miss 2°C Paris Agreement aim

Moody's warns updated national emissions targets under NDCs may not limit global warming to under 2°C; credit risks tied to weak execution and external dependencies

Delhi among these 8 Indian cities to face double the heatwaves by 2030 | Climate change | Mumbai

Delhi continues to sizzle as the city remains in the grip of an intense heatwave. A new report says that Delhi is among 8 Indian cities that will witness a two-fold increase in heatwave days by 2030.

May 2025 was world's second-hottest on record, says EU climate agency

Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels, C3S said

Droughts became 40% more severe over past 40 years, finds new study

Rising temperatures, driven by climate change, is increasing the atmosphere's 'thirst', making droughts around the world 40 per cent more severe over the past 40 years, according to a new study. Researchers, including those at the University of California-Santa Barbara, US, explained that the atmosphere is becoming warmer, thereby increasing its capacity to hold moisture -- atmospheric evaporative demand -- and making droughts more severe, even in places where rainfall has stayed the same. "Drought is based on the difference between water supply (from precipitation) and atmospheric water demand. Including the latter reveals substantial increases in drought as the atmosphere warms," Chris Funk, director of the Climate Hazards Center at the University of California-Santa Barbara, said. The findings published in the journal Nature indicate that atmospheric evaporative demand is playing an "increasingly important role in driving severe droughts", with the tendency likely to continue in

Darkness to Disruption: This CEO is Lighting Up Rural India and Africa

In this episode of Manager’s Mantra, Manoj Sinha, CEO of Husk Power Systems and TIME100 Climate Leader, shares how renewable energy and AI are lighting up rural India.

Kerala CM calls for controlled, democratic use of natural resources

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday called for sustainable and environment friendly development in the state and controlled and democratic use of natural resources. In a Facebook post on the occasion of World Environment Day, Vijayan said that currently it is an era of increasing crisis due to climate change and environmental degradation and therefore, collective responsibility to protect the ecosystem is important. "The development of the state should be sustainable and environment friendly. Instead of blind capitalist exploitation, we should ensure controlled and democratic use of natural resources," he said. The CM said that this year's World Environment Day theme was to stop the widespread plastic pollution. He called for building a developed world for future generations while also preserving a healthy nature.

Climate change at COP30: India must lead, not wait for other nations

If most countries are unlikely to make strong commitments, it is relevant to ask whether India should also hold back. Climate change is too important for us to take this course