Leading climate scientists have determined that in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by at least 43 percent by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels) and by at least 60 percent by 2035
According to a recent report, since the international climate talks in Dubai (COP28) in December of last year, extreme weather events have caused over $41 billion in damages globally. This is while millions of people in India struggle with the intense heat brought on by climate change.
Four extreme weather events in the last six months, all of which have been scientifically proven to be made more likely and/or intense by climate change, killed over 2,500 people, according to a report by the UK-based NGO Christian Aid.
According to the non-profit organisation, not enough has been done since the United Arab Emirates hosted the COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels or assist low-income nations in dealing with climate-related disasters.
These figures show that the costs of the climate crisis are already being felt, the statement said, as the second week of the mid-year climate talks in Bonn got underway.
Christian Aid stated, "Rich countries should recognise their historic responsibility and increase their funding to the Loss and Damage Fund to help other countries cope with and recover from extreme weather." Rich countries are primarily responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gases that are heating the atmosphere and causing extreme events.
In order to address the effects of climate change that disproportionately affect impoverished communities in the Global South, delegates to the UN climate negotiations in Dubai in December decided to establish a new loss and damage fund.
The charity claims that the damages of $41 billion are underestimated. According to the report, only insured losses are usually reported, and many of the worst disasters have happened in nations where few individuals or companies have insurance.
It also stated that these numbers do not adequately account for the human cost of disasters.
The report claims that climate change doubled the likelihood of floods, which in Brazil claimed the lives of at least 169 people and resulted in at least $7 billion in economic losses.
Climate change increased the likelihood of flooding in South and Southwest Asia, which resulted in at least 214 fatalities and $850 million in insured damages in the UAE alone, the report stated.
Over 1,500 people lost their lives in Myanmar alone as a result of simultaneous heatwaves in West, South, and Southeast Asia, according to the report. Heat deaths are infamously underreported.
According to the report, without climate change, the heatwave in Southeast Asia would have been unfeasible and is predicted to slow growth and raise inflation. It was made five times more likely and 45 times hotter in West Asia and South Asia, respectively.
According to the report, flooding caused by cyclones in East Africa killed 559 people and was both more frequent and intense due to climate change.
Mariana Paoli, the Global Advocacy Lead for Christian Aid, emphasised, "We cannot heal the burns caused by the climate crisis while we are still throwing fossil fuels on the fire." Paoli is Brazilian.
Rich nations, who bear the brunt of the climate crisis, must significantly increase their financial support for climate action. In order to finance meaningful climate action, they must tax polluters and the very rich, as well as demonstrate true creativity and political will. In order to make sure that funds are allocated to enhancing climate equity and making everyone safer from climate disasters, we must erase the historical debt that impoverished nations owe to rich ones, stated Paoli.
According to the report, in order to prevent the worsening of climate-related impacts, such as droughts, extreme rain, floods, sea level rise, cyclones, heatwaves, and others, countries decided in 2015 to limit the rise in the global average temperature to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and "preferably" to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Leading climate scientists have determined that in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by at least 43 percent by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels) and by at least 60 percent by 2035. This information comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Since greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are rising so quickly, Earth's surface temperature has already warmed by about 1.15 degrees Celsius over the average temperature between 1850 and 1900. These gases are mainly carbon dioxide and methane.
Developing countries contend that if developed countries, who have historically been at blame for climate change, do not increase their financial support, it is unreasonable to expect them to cut CO2 emissions more quickly.
At the United Nations climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November, an agreement on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) or a new climate finance goal will be the main topic of discussion.
The new annual amount that developed nations must mobilise, starting in 2025, to support developing nations' climate action is known as NCQG. Wealthy nations, who have failed time and time again to raise the $100 billion annually they had pledged to provide, are expected to raise more.