Climate Report

Deadly floods across Asia cause $20 bn losses, show growing climate risks

Scientists have pointed to the aggravating impact of climate change on flooding, along with factors including deforestation, failures in flood defences and a lack of disaster resilience funds

Climate disasters killed 80K, hit 1.3 billion in India since 1995: Report

India ranks ninth globally among countries most impacted by climate disasters over the past three decades, with nearly 430 extreme weather events killing more than 80,000 people, according to a new report. The Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2026 released by the environment think tank Germanwatch at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, on Tuesday said climate disasters affected 1.3 billion people and caused economic losses worth almost USD 170 billion from 1995 to 2024. The report said the country's losses stemmed largely from repeated floods, cyclones, droughts and heat waves that have intensified with global warming. Events such as the 1998 Gujarat cyclone, the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, the 2013 Uttarakhand floods and recent deadly heat waves are among those that contributed to India's high ranking on the index, it said. The report said India's situation represents a "continuous threat" rather than isolated disasters, as recurring weather extremes have steadily eroded development gains and undermin

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

Scientists challenge flagship study that saw 62% climate hit to GDP

A review of an April Nature paper finds data anomalies from Uzbekistan skewed results, overstating the potential economic impact among 83 countries analysed in the original study

Can India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme drive climate target success?

IETA estimates that by 2030, the global carbon credit market will be around $300 billion, growing to $1 trn to $1.5 trn by 2050. India is expected to be one of the big sellers

Indian cities brace for heatwaves but lack long-term planning, study finds

The study examined how nine major Indian cities-Bengaluru, Delhi, Faridabad, Gwalior, Kota, Ludhiana, Meerut, Mumbai, and Surat-are preparing for increasing heatwaves

Climate change led to 41 additional days of extreme heat in 2024: Report

The world experienced an average of 41 more days of extreme heat in 2024 due to climate change, a new report said on Friday. According to the European climate agency Copernicus, 2024 is set to end as the warmest year on record and the first year with a global average temperature 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. A yearly review report by two groups of climate scientists -- World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central -- said the world saw an average of 41 more days of dangerous heat in 2024. Small island developing states were hit the hardest, with their people experiencing over 130 additional hot days. The scientists identified 219 extreme weather events in 2024 and studied 29 of them. They found that climate change contributed to at least 3,700 deaths and displaced millions in 26 extreme weather events. "It is likely the total number of people killed in extreme weather events intensified by climate change this year is in the tens or hundreds of thousands,"

Hydrogen project investments are accelerating but uncertainty remains: IEA

Demand targets, however, are only just over a quarter of the production projects, and progress made so far in the hydrogen sector is not sufficient to meet climate goals, the IEA added

None of G7 economies on track to meet 2030 mitigation targets, shows report

None of the G7 members are on track to meet their existing emission reduction targets for 2030, according to a new analysis released on Tuesday. The analysis by Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute, comes ahead of the G7 climate, energy, and environment ministers' meeting in Venaria Reale, Italy, during April 28-30. The G7 collectively aims to achieve a 40-42 per cent emission reduction by 2030 but existing policies suggest that it will likely achieve only 19-33 per cent by the end of this decade, the analysis showed. This is at best around half of what is needed and would lead to greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 exceeding a 1.5 degrees Celsius compatible level by around four gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Such a shortfall in ambition does not provide the leadership signal needed from the world's richest countries, making up around 38 per cent of the global economy and responsible for 21 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, the .

Over 26% of India affected by drought conditions, says US weather body

In its Global Climate Report for October, NCEI said that almost all states have parts that have been affected by drought, except Rajasthan and Punjab

Global fossil fuel production plans threaten climate goals: Report

Countries are planning to produce around 110 per cent more fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a new report. This comes despite 151 countries having pledged to achieve net-zero emissions and the latest forecasts that suggest global coal, oil and gas demand will peak this decade, even without new policies. The Production Gap Report 2023 tracks the discrepancy between governments' planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2 degrees Celsius. The report says the near-term increase in coal production is led by India, followed by the Russian Federation, both planning significant increases in coal production through 2030. India aims for self-reliance and considers the coal industry of paramount importance for income and employment generation. Around one-fifth of India's coal demand is met through imports, which exposes the country to price ...

The next step in climate efforts

In the context of the General Assembly resolution, India should not hesitate to make its submission to the ICJ, reflecting its views on climate-change issues

IPCC report endorses India's call for climate justice: Bhupender Yadav

The Report notes that finance flows from developed to developing countries fall short of the levels needed to meet climate goals across all sectors and regions

World needs new institutions to drive climate action, SDGs: Amitabh Kant

The world needs new institutions to drive climate action and sustainable development goals (SDGs) as organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are not designed to address these challenges, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Friday. Participating in a discussion on "India's G20 Presidency - Forging Actionable Agenda for Global South" at the Vivekananda International Foundation, Kant talked about the challenges as India holds the presidency of G20 -- an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). He said the challenges are "external" and referred to the Ukraine war and the prevailing situation in the West. "We have seen the war going on for one year, we don't know how it will shape up in the coming days. G20 is essentially a consensus building platform," he said. He said geopolitics in Europe is not improving as the Ukraine-Russia war has been going on for a year and is worsening. Kant said G20 is important a

Most Asian countries behind biodiversity targets for protected areas: Study

Most countries in Asia have failed to achieve a global minimum target of protecting at least 17 per cent of land by 2020, according to a study based on data from 40 countries. Under current trends, the outlook for achieving the UN Global Biodiversity Framework's 2030 target to protect at least 30 per cent of land is bleak, with Asia set to miss this by an even greater margin, the researchers said. To counter the global biodiversity crisis, at the 2010 UN Convention on Biological Diversity, almost 200 countries pledged to protect at least 17 per cent of their terrestrial environments by 2020 (known as Aichi Target). To investigate whether they achieved this, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, with collaborators in Asia, analysed data from official reports submitted to the World Database on Protected Areas. The study, published in the journal Communications Biology, found that only 40 per cent of Asian countries achieved the target of a minimum of 17

Karnataka to become climate resilient in 5 years: World Bank official

The delegation headed by Auguste Tano Kouame, Country Director, India, World Bank met Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday and discussed ways to make the state climate resilient

Climate projections again point to 2.7C rise if policies don't improve

The research partnership Climate Action Tracker on Thursday released its latest projections of how greenhouse gas emissions may dangerously raise the global average temperature

Adaptation target not keeping pace with growing risks: UNEP Report

Adaptation finance flows to developing countries are 5 to 10 times below estimated needs

Is cricket sustainable amid climate change?

The warming of the earth, combined with the exhausting nature of the game, is raising questions about the future of the second most popular sport in the world

India's banks unprepared for financial impacts of climate change: Report

Deloitte Economics Institute estimates that an emissions pathway consistent with a three degrees Celsius temperature increase would lead to an annual loss of three per cent of GDP from now till 2050