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Dear readers,
Welcome to the Climate Weekly newsletter by the Centre for Science and Environment’s Climate Change programme and Down to Earth.
On December 9, at the Centre for Science and Environment’s two-day ‘National Dialogue on Renewable Energy for an Equitable Green Transition’, Sunita Narain, Director-General of CSE, spoke about India’s continued energy poverty and how this needs to be tackled by doubling the country’s energy capacity and generation by 2030. This points towards coal not needing to be ‘replaced’ but methodically ‘displaced’ by clean energy sources. Energy generated from fossil fuels is expected to decrease from 77 per cent of the total in 2024 to 56 per cent by 2030, whereas energy from renewable sources is expected to increase from the 13 per cent capacity today to 32 per cent by 2030.
In extreme weather news, India experienced above-normal average minimum temperatures throughout 11 months in 2024. The highest average minimum temperatures since 1901 were seen during four consecutive months: July, August, September and October. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), each of these months set new records for the highest average minimum temperatures in 123 years of record keeping.
In related news, at the ‘International Conference on Lightning and Extreme Weather Events’ held on December 9, experts warned that India needs a localised heat stress index that takes temperatures and relative humidity into account—even during winters. Currently, many places across the country are experiencing above-normal winter temperatures, particularly along the western coast of the country. While heatwaves are well defined by the IMD, the definition for heat stress (which combines temperatures and relative humidity) is missing. Heat stress is potentially dangerous as high temperatures combined with humidity can hamper the human body’s ability to cool itself through perspiration. Researchers pointed towards this ‘risk knowledge’ lagging behind other aspects of early warning systems, a crucial gap that needs to be filled as future warming and increased moisture levels will only worsen the risks faced by the country.
Finally, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has stated that the cooling La Nina phenomenon may develop in the equatorial Pacific Ocean over the next three months. However, its cooling effect is likely to be short-term and insufficient to counterbalance the ongoing global warming. La Nina is a phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) when cooler-than-normal temperatures prevail over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and there is a temporary cooling effect on global average temperatures.
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By - Upamanyu Das
Climate Change, CSE
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| EXTREME WEATHER TRACKER |
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Even if GHG emissions subside by 2050, chances that long-term heating will exceed 1.5 degrees are more than 99%: AI-based study, 12 December 2024
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Recap 2024: When breaking heat records became an almost monthly affair, 11 December 2024
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CLIMATE NEWS | SCIENCE| IMPACTS| POLITICS |
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