October of 2024 warmest on record for India
This October was the warmest on record in the country, breaking the previous high of 1951, the Met office reported on November 1st, 2024. Central India -Madhya Pradesh, parts of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh - led the mean temperature chart for October, becoming the warmest on record, too, whereas northwest India, which includes Delhi-NCR, became the second warmest on record since 1901…
Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/october-of-2024-warmest-on-record-for-india/ar-AA1tmBgy
Brink of irreversible climate disaster? 25 of 35 vital signs of Earth cross extreme thresholds, finds report
The Earth has entered a “critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis,” with 25 out of 35 planetary vital signs reaching extreme levels, warned a new climate report published in the journal Bioscience.
Some of these planetary vital signs include human population growth, ruminant livestock numbers, per capita meat production, global gross domestic product (GDP) and coal and oil consumption.
Human and livestock populations have been rising at alarming rates, increasing by approximately 200,000 and 170,000 per day, respectively, noted the paper, The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth. Fossil fuel consumption has also surged, with coal and oil use increasing by 1.5 per cent in 2023.
India may face potential evening power shortages by 2027, warns IECC
India may experience significant evening power shortages by 2027, ranging between 20 and 40 gigawatts (GW), even if all currently under construction thermal and hydroelectric capacity becomes functional as planned, according to the India Energy and Climate Center ( IECC). electricity demand continues to grow at an annual rate beyond 6 per cent, India will face evening power shortages by 2027.
It observed that India's electricity demand grew by 7 per cent in 2023, significantly outpacing the global average of 2.2 per cent. Between May 2019 and May 2024, India's peak electricity demand surged by 68 GW, from 182 GW to 250 GW, marking an annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent. The country met a record maximum power demand of 250 GW on May 30 this year….
Heatwave observed in May 1.5°C warmer than previous ones: ClimaMeter
ClimaMeter, a research project funded by the European Union and the French National Centre for Scientific Research, has interpreted the May 2024 heatwave in India as a largely unique event whose characteristics can mostly be ascribed to human-driven climate change.
An analysis by ClimaMeter has revealed that the heatwave in May was 1.5°C warmer than the warmest heatwaves previously observed in the country.
It said that from May 26 to 29, large parts of northern and central India suffered a severe heatwave, with a provisional record temperature of 49.1°C registered in New Delhi. Besides, over 37 cities in the country recorded temperatures over 45°C….
The scientists at ClimaMeter They analysed how events similar to the high temperature in India’s May heatwave changed in the present (2001–2023), compared to what they would have looked like if they had occurred in the past (1979–2001) in the region.
“Surface pressure changes show that similar events do not display significant changes in the present climate than what they would have been in the past. The temperature changes show that similar events produce temperatures in the present climate at least 1.5 °C warmer than what they would have been in the past, over a large area of the region analysed,” the analysis stated.
“ClimaMeter’s findings underscore that heatwaves in India are reaching unbearable temperature thresholds because of the burning of fossil fuel. There are no technological solutions for Indian metropoles to adopt for temperatures approaching 50°C. We should all act now to reduce CO2 emissions and avoid exceeding vital temperature thresholds in large areas of the subtropics,” said Davide Faranda, CNRS.
Gianmarco Mengaldo, National University of Singapore, said that the ClimaMeter’s findings show the complex interplay between natural variability and climate change, with the latter playing an important role in critical synoptic-weather-pattern changes in tropical and subtropical regions that may significantly aggravate heatwaves in the near future.
Delhi's 52.9 to Iran's 66 degrees Celsius: Heatwaves are breaking records globally
The exceptionally high temperatures recorded in New Delhi over the past couple of days are remarkable but not unprecedented. In recent years, the world has seen numerous extreme weather events that highlight the escalating severity of climate change.
Delhi is now among the regions experiencing record-breaking temperatures, often exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. On Wednesday (May 29), temperature in parts of Delhi reportedly reached 52.9 degrees Celsius, marking the highest ever recorded in India….
Read more at Business Standard, June 5, 2024, https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/imd-weather-forecast-delhi-s-52-9-to-iran-s-66-degree-heatwaves-are-breaking-records-globally-124053000776_1.html
Cyclone Remal Highlights: 6 killed, 29,000 houses damaged in Bengal's coastal areas
As heavy rain and gusty winds persist in Kolkata following the landfall of severe cyclonic storm ‘Remal,’ efforts are underway to mitigate its impact.
At least six people lost their lives in West Bengal as Cyclone Remal wreaked havoc across the state and neighbouring Bangladesh, with wind speeds reaching up to 135 km per hour, PTI reported, citing officials. The affected areas included Kakdwip, Namkhana, Sagard Island, Diamond Harbour, Fraserganj, Bakkhali and Mandarmani. Initial assessments indicate that nearly 29,500 houses damaged…..
EU adopts Environmental, Human Rights, Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
The European Council announced today the approval by member states of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), marking the final step in the adoption of legislation setting mandatory obligations for large companies to address their negative impacts on human rights and the environment across their value chains.
The final adoption of the directive had come into significant doubt in recent months, when an earlier version failed to gain approval by member states in the Council, requiring revisions in the legislation that significantly scaled back the number of companies covered by the law, and extended the timeline to its full implementation…
Read more at ESG Today May 24, 2024, https://www.esgtoday.com/
European Cement Industry Issues Updated Net Zero Roadmap
CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association, publishes its Net Zero Roadmap update, outlining the sector’s climate ambition along the cement and concrete value chain.
The roadmap update looks at the progress achieved since the publication of CEMBUREAU’s carbon neutrality roadmap in May 2020. In light of the significant decarbonisation projects ongoing throughout the EU industry, it revisits the sector’s ambition as follows:
- By 2030, the roadmap projects a 37% reduction in CO2 emissions related to cement production, and 50% down the value chain.
- By 2040, a 78% reduction on cement, and 93% down the value chain.
- By 2050, the roadmap projects net zero cement production in Europe, and looks at the potential to become carbon negative over the value chain.
The roadmap also highlights that key policy measures which are indispensable to meet this ambition, including:
- The implementation of a watertight Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- The ramping up financial support to support decarbonisation investments
- The need for guaranteed access to affordable decarbonised energy, infrastructure and raw materials
- The creation of lead markets for low carbon, circular products
Source: CEMBUREA press release, May 21st, 2024
2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years
Including an exceptionally warm Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer, 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record. Contextualizing recent anthropogenic warming against past natural variability is nontrivial, however, because the sparse 19th century meteorological records tend to be too warm. Here, we combine observed and reconstructed June-August (JJA) surface air temperatures to show that 2023 was the warmest NH extratropical summer over the past 2000 years exceeding the 95% confidence range of natural climate variability by more than half a degree Celsius. Comparison of the 2023 JJA warming against the coldest reconstructed summer in 536 CE reveals a maximum range of pre-Anthropocene-to-2023 temperatures of 3.93°C. Although 2023 is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend7 that is amplified by an unfolding El Niño event8, this extreme emphasizes the urgency to implement international agreements for carbon emission reduction.
Paper written by Jan Esper, Max Torbenson & Ulf Buntgen, Published in Nature (2024).
Read more at: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/human-activities-slowed-down-earth-s-rotation-95906
Human activities slowed down earth’s rotation
Earth’s rotation has slowed down because of human activity. This could have been caused by the melting of polar ice due to human-induced global warming and subsequent movement of water towards the equator, a paper published in the journal Nature on March 27, 2024 showed.
Due to the movement of water from the pole to the equator, Earth has become slightly less spherical and more flattened. As a result, the moment of inertia of Earth, which is a measure of how spread its mass is, has increased. …..
A leap second is added from time to time to the Coordinated Universal Time to account for this slowing down. The last time a leap second was added, was on December 31, 2016……The addition or subtraction of a leap second can be problematic for telecommunications and computing. However, it doesn’t significantly impact our daily lives otherwise.
Read more at: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climate-change/human-activities-slowed-down-earth-s-rotation-95906
EU adopts rules requiring all new buildings to be zero emissions by 2030
The European Union (EU) announced that it has formally adopted the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), with new rules aimed at reducing energy use and emissions from buildings across the EU, including targets for all new buildings to be zero emissions by 2030, and to phase out the use of fossil fuels in building heating systems by 2040.
The revised directive also includes measures aimed at supporting a renovation wave for buildings, including a requirement for member states to establish national building renovation plans to decarbonize their building stock and address barriers such as financing, training and attracting more skilled workers, and to set up national building “renovation passport” schemes to guide building owners in their staged renovations towards zero-emission buildings.
Read more at ESG Today info@esgtoday.com (April 15, 2024)