Page 6 - Global Warming

India to be most impacted by climate change: IIT Bombay professor

An Indian Institute of Technology Bombay professor who is touring the country on a solar-powered bus since late 2020 to create awareness among people about solar energy and the threat of climate change has said that India would be among the top countries to be impacted by the latter. Professor Chetan Singh Solanki, often called the Solar Man of India', arrived in Indore in Madhya Pradesh as part of his Energy Swaraj Yatra'. India is among the countries that are going to be most impacted by climate change. We are seeing that climate change is causing unseasonal rains and severe floods, Solanki told PTI on Thursday. To spread awareness about the threat of climate change, Solanki said he took leave without pay from IIT Bombay to set out on the Energy Swaraj Yatra' in November 2020, adding that the drive will continue till 2030. I have resolved not to go home till the yatra is over. This solar-powered bus is now my home. It has covered more than 47,000 kilometres and I have addressed .

COP28: PM Modi emplanes for his visit to UAE for UN climate talks

PM Modi will address the opening session of the World Climate Action Summit in the United Arab Emirates and participate in the three high-level side events, of which two will be co-hosted by India

Loss and Damage Fund, climate finance India's key focus at COP28: Env min

Loss and Damage Fund, climate finance and issues related to nationally determined contributions to reduce emissions will be the focus areas of discussions that India would be taking up during the COP28, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said on Thursday. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Indian Pavilion at COP28 where he underscored the importance of everyone to come together to fight climate change. We have seen India's commitment towards its environment-friendly policies... There are many issues to discuss here...there is loss and damage, also the issues of the last COP like article 6 and the climate finance associated with developing countries, those issues will also be discussed at the COP, he said. Article 6 regulates voluntary cooperation among countries to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions. It incorporates both market mechanisms and non-market approaches, including cooperation in areas such as finance, technology ...

COP28: India walked the talk when it comes to climate action, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for supporting developing countries with adequate climate financing and technology transfer to enable them to deal with climate change. As he heads to Dubai to attend the World Climate Action Summit, Modi said India has walked the talk when it comes to climate action while highlighting the importance India attached to the issue during its G20 presidency. "During our G20 presidency, climate was high on our priority. The New Delhi Leaders' Declaration includes numerous concrete steps on climate action and sustainable development. I look forward to the COP28 taking forward the consensus on these issues," Modi said in his departure statement. Modi will attend the World Climate Action Summit on Friday during the United Nations 'Conference of the Parties' on climate, known as COP28. Several world leaders are set to attend the climate action summit to discuss ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and effectively combat climate change. The

2023 set to be the warmest year on record, says WMO latest report

"2023 has shattered climate records, accompanied by extreme weather which has left a trail of devastation and despair," WMO said in a statement

Fund to compensate developing nations for climate impacts approved at COP28

The UN climate talks in Dubai opened with a bang with countries clinching an early deal on how to compensate developing and poor countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis despite contributing little to it. The agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss And Damage Fund on the first day of COP28 sets the stage for ambitious decisions over the next 12 days. At the COP27 in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh last year, rich countries agreed to establish a loss-and-damage fund. However, the decisions on funding allocation, beneficiaries and administration were referred to a committee. Differences between countries were so stark that it necessitated additional meetings to resolve these issues. A draft agreement was arrived at earlier this month and a revised agreement was released a day ago. The draft agreement had called for the World Bank to host the fund for the next four years. It asked the developed countries to contribute to the fund but said other countries and private parti

2023 is hottest year on record, brace for more climate extremes says UN

The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and a warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, forest fires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015. The WMO secretary-general said the onset earlier this year of El Nino, the weather phenomenon marked by heating in the Pacific Ocean, could tip the average temperature next year over the 1.5-degree (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target cap set in Paris. It's practically sure that during the coming four years we will hit this 1.5, at least on temporary basis, Petteri Taalas said in an interview. And in the next decade we are more or less going to be there on a permanen

India should not take new commitments at COP28 climate talks in Dubai: GTRI

India should not take new commitments at the ongoing United Nations COP28 climate talks in Dubai and continue its green transition without additional assurances, think tank GTRI suggested on Thursday. The climate conference is being held at the Dubai Expo City from November 30 to December 12. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that India has already made significant commitments at COP27 (Conference of Parties) and the Paris Agreement, aligning with its Long-term Low Emissions and Development Strategy. India's commitment to generating half of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 is noteworthy. "At COP28 India need not take new commitments at COP28. Instead, it may continue its green transition without additional commitments," GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said. However, he added that the country's high methane emissions, especially from the agriculture sector, pose a challenge. "Any improvement will require .

Global marine life on the move due to rising sea temperatures: Study

Rising sea temperatures due to climate change are causing tropical marine species to move from the equator towards the poles, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, also shows that temperate species are receding as it gets too warm, they face increased competition for habitat, and new predators arrive on the scene. This mass movement of marine life, termed tropicalisation, is changing the ecological landscape of our oceans and leading to a cascade of consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, and potentially the global economy, the researchers said. The publication of the study coincides with the start of COP28 in Dubai, where global policymakers congregate and make pledges to tackle the impact of global warming. In recent years, climate change has altered the physical factors that affect species dispersal, such as ocean currents in areas that separate tropical/subtropical and temperate regions, the researchers said. These ...

Less future warming projected, yet there's more current pain, say experts

The world is heading for considerably less warming than projected a decade ago, but that good news is overwhelmed by much more pain from current climate change than scientists anticipated, experts said. That's just one of a set of seemingly contradictory conditions facing climate negotiators who this week gather in Dubai for marathon United Nations talks that include a first-ever assessment of how well the world is doing in its battle against global warming. It's also a conference where one of the central topics will be whether fossil fuels should be phased out, but it will be run by the CEO of an oil company. Key to the session is the first global stocktake on climate, when countries look at what's happened since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, how off-track it is and probably say what's needed to get back on track. Even though emissions of heat-trapping gases are still rising every year, they're rising more slowly than projected from 2000 to 2015. Before the Paris deal, scienti

Top 10% in developing nations emit less than rich nations' regular earners

In rich countries, even regular earners produce more carbon dioxide than the wealthiest 10 per cent of people in developing countries like India, Brazil, and others in Asia and South America, according to a new study. Released ahead of the UN climate talks in Dubai, the study by the New Delhi-based climate think tank Council for Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) shows that the richest 10 per cent in the developed countries and China produce 22 per cent more CO2 than all the developing countries studied combined. The study highlights that carbon emissions of an individual in the bottom 10 per cent income bracket of Saudi Arabia, the US, or Australia are 6 to 15 times more than an individual in the poorest decile of India, Brazil, or the ASEAN region. For this study, the researchers analysed per capita CO2 emissions for different income brackets across 14 countries, the EU, and the ASEAN region using data from the World Inequality Database and the World Bank. These countries, tak

$13.5 trn needed to fast-track decarbonisation of key sectors: WEF

Transitioning to a more sustainable and carbon-neutral future will require USD 13.5 trillion in investments by 2050, particularly in the production, energy and transport sectors, a new World Economic Forum report said on Tuesday. The report noted that major producing countries and regions such as India, China, the US, and EU have now committed to net-zero targets, making it imperative for businesses within their jurisdictions to align their operations and strategies with the evolving regulatory landscape. However, complex and ever-changing policy regimes result in businesses allocating substantial resources towards compliance, impeding progress, and therefore establishing more consistent and stable regulatory frameworks with well-defined timelines is imperative for mitigating these risks, it said. Taking stock of progress towards net-zero emissions for eight industries that emit 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas, the World Economic Forum Net-Zero Industry Tracker 2023 report said

COP28 to focus heavily on methane emissions, India likely to stand ground

The upcoming UN climate talks in the UAE are anticipated to focus heavily on methane emissions, especially in light of China's recent commitment to include this potent greenhouse gas in its 2035 climate plans. However, experts believe that this development may not significantly impact India, as the country is already implementing initiatives centered around agriculture that have climate co-benefits. The United States and the European Union have emphasised the urgency to take action on methane, accounting for about 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times (1850-1900). The UAE, hosting this year's climate talks (COP28), is also expected to announce a commitment from major oil and gas companies to reduce methane leakage. The EU and the US jointly launched the "Global Methane Pledge" in 2021 to reduce worldwide methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, compared to the 2020 levels. Around 150 countries have signed on, but China, India, and Russia are among the prominent

COP28 DG leads discussion on leveraging technology for climate action

The panel discussion explored the evolving landscape of climate technology, and the need for diverse stakeholders' contributions and partnerships to address the climate challenge

Explained: How dengue crisis in Northeast India is linked to climate change

The lights above washing the hospital corridor with a dim glow, a frantic Jenpu Rongmei rushed to see his 12-year-old nephew Nina who had been admitted the night before with fever and body ache. He was too late. The young boy had succumbed to dengue, a neglected tropical disease that was entirely alien to the people of Nagaland till very recently. A month later, Jenpu remembers every detail of that evening the dull light in the hospital, the faces around, the intense grief and the sheer disbelief that Nina could have gone so soon and so suddenly. "When I got the news that my nephew was admitted, I thought he would be fine. I didn't think dengue could be deadly," Jenpu, who runs the NGO CanYouth to help young people in their education, said. As the mosquito-borne disease increases its spread, Nina's untimely death is the latest in the devastating crisis sweeping across the Northeast and other states in India. The spread of the disease even in autumn has been attributed to a late ..

COP28 holds key to global carbon market that could help improve offsets

UN-sponsored program aims to ensure high quality credits within internationally framework, offering investors greater certainty amid concerns that some existing voluntary projects do little

Ozone hole largest on record over past 3 years, new research finds

Contrary to public perception, the Antarctic ozone hole has been amongst the largest on record over the past three years, new research has found. The ozone hole above Antarctica has been remarkably massive and long-lived over the past four years and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are not the only things to blame, said researchers in their study published in the journal Nature Communications. CFCs are greenhouse gases containing carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine and have been studied to contribute to ozone depletion. The ozone layer in the Earth's atmosphere blocks the harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun to protect people from skin diseases. According to the study's lead author Hannah Kessenich, PhD candidate at the University of Otago, New Zealand, the team found much less ozone in the centre of the hole compared to 19 years ago. "This means that the hole is not only larger in area, but also deeper throughout most of spring," said Kessenich. The team analysed the mon

World racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise: UN report

The globe is speeding to 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.5 to 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming since pre-industrial times, set to blow well past the agreed-upon international climate threshold, a United Nations report calculated. To have an even money shot at keeping warming to the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit adopted by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, countries have to slash their emissions by 42% by the end of the decade, said the UN Environment Programme's Emissions Gap report issued Monday. Carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas rose 1.2% last year, the report said. This year Earth got a taste of what's to come, said the report, which sets the table for international climate talks later this month. Through the end of September, the daily global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels on 86 days this year, the report said. But that increased to 127 days because nearly all of the first two weeks o

Asian economies must ramp up solar power to keep global warming under 1.5C

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 analyzed 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 ...

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.