Rising to the challenge: boosting adaptation and resilience for development
One in five people globally are at high risk from climate-related hazards-not just because they’re exposed to floods, heatwaves, cyclones, or droughts, but because poverty or limited access to essential services like clean water, electricity, social protection or financial services leaves them more vulnerable. But here’s the good news: the share of people at high risk from climate-related hazards has halved globally within a decade-from 2010 to 2021, demonstrating global progress and illustrating the benefits of development for resilience.
Europe has a heating strategy—now it needs one for cooling
For decades, European policymakers have defined energy security primarily as maintaining heat during winter. From strategic gas reserves to household subsidies, systemic, top-down responses have shaped the continent’s heating strategy.
But a new threat is emerging. The record-breaking heat wave sweeping across Europe is disrupting daily life, energy systems, and health services, exposing how unprepared Europe remains for summer extremes that are becoming longer, hotter, and more frequent.
New index ranks vulnerabilities of 188 nations to climate shocks
The Columbia Climate School, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, has unveiled a novel index that integrates countries’ vulnerabilities to cyclones, floods, droughts, earthquakes, conflicts, and other hazards with their ability — due to availability and access to financing—to take prevention, recovery, and rebuilding actions. Illustrating current and future risk exposure scenarios of 188 nations, the Climate Finance (CliF) Vulnerability Index’s interactive dashboard identifies the 65 most at-risk, ‘Red Zone’ nations ― two-thirds of which are in Africa.
The overarching goal of the CliF Vulnerability Index is to promote more comprehensive risk assessment standards, target resources for various bands of vulnerability, and ultimately, inform how to more effectively reach communities facing various types of disaster and financial risks.
Duration of heat waves accelerating faster than global warming
New research finds that not only will climate change make heat waves hotter and longer, but the lengthening of heat waves will accelerate with each additional fraction of a degree of warming. Researchers found that the longest heat waves will see the greatest acceleration, and the frequency of the most extreme heat waves will increase the most. The duration of a heat wave exacerbates the risk to people, animals, agriculture and ecosystems.
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