1. A Quick Rundown of The Most Important Articles on The Environment and Climate Change to Read This Week
It has been revealed that the Norwegian state-owned coal business would keep operating its final mine in the Arctic Svalbard island until the middle of 2025. This is to assure a steady supply of coal to European steel mills in the event of a conflict.
On 1 September, the Met Office national forecaster announced that, according to preliminary data from a dataset that began in 1884, England had its joint warmest summer on record.
On August 31st, official data showed that the number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest had reached its highest level for the month since 2010.
Alok Sharma, the United Kingdom’s climate envoy, has expressed concern that some of the world’s largest economies are “backsliding” on carbon promises.
Among the climate-related initiatives passed by California’s legislature is a requirement to make the entire economy carbon neutral by 2045, a goal of generating 90% of its power from sustainable sources by 2035, and the allocation of more than $50 billion to clean-energy developments.
An increase in interest in installing solar panels has led to a tenfold spike in inquiries, according to one UK-based company. It’s assumed this is a reaction to ever-increasing energy prices.
On August 28th, cyclists in Germany staged a demonstration demanding safer cycling conditions and better access to public transportation. Eight thousand five hundred cyclists blocked down a section of the Autobahn.
Off the coast of Britain is the largest offshore wind farm in the world.
2. The Wmo Is Predicting a Triple-Dip Winter. La Niña
The World Meteorological Organization forecasted on August 31 that the La Nia weather pattern would continue through at least the end of the year, marking the first time in this century that it will have prolonged three consecutive northern winters.
Mid-July through mid-August saw a strengthening of La Nia conditions in the tropical Pacific, as trade winds increased in intensity, influencing global temperature and precipitation patterns and exacerbating drought and flooding in many regions.
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s El Nio/La Nia Update, the current La Nia, which began in September 2020, is expected to persist for the next six months, with a 70% possibility in September–November 2022 and reducing to 55% in December–February 2022–2023.
The term “La Nia” describes the occurrence of lower-than-usual ocean surface temperatures accompanied by westerly winds and abundant precipitation. El Nio, the warm phase of the so-called El Nio Southern Oscillation, typically has the opposite effect on weather and climate (ENSO). “Having a La Nia event three years in a row is quite rare. Temporarily, it has a cooling effect on the planet, but it won’t be enough to stop or even reduce the long-term warming trend “According to a statement released by WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
3. The Low Percentage of People Who Have Flood Insurance Poses a Threat as The Climate Problem Worsens.
According to new research, flood insurance losses would quadruple from 2011 to 2020, reaching $80 billion worldwide while insurance penetration will remain low at only 18%.
The Swiss Re Institute showed that despite climate change increasing the chances of high-intensity heavy rains and short-duration flood occurrences, insurance coverage has remained dangerously inadequate. Consequently, flood-related losses are magnified.
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This year, flooding caused by torrential rains has submerged towns in China and South Korea and interrupted water and energy supplies in India, while drought has threatened harvests across Europe.
“The recent incidents in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas are a terrible reminder of how disastrous floods can be to our lives,” Keith Wolfe, president of U.S. P&C, Swiss Re, told Reuters.
In spite of the growth of the private flood insurance market in recent years, “far too many people are still not covered for floods,” and “far too many of those touched by catastrophic occurrences are uninsured,” leaving them to “pick up the pieces at their own expense.”
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