Global Climate Risk Index 2020 – Free PDF Download

ABOUT THE REPORT

•  The international environmental think tank ‘Germanwatch’ has recently released the Global Climate Risk Index 2020.
• The annually published Risk Index analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weatherrelated loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
• Germanwatch, based in Bonn and Berlin (Germany), is an independent development and environmental organisation which works for sustainable global development.

GLOBAL CLIMATE RISK INDEX 2020

• Overall, India’s economic losses due to climate change were the second highest in the world with a loss of Rs 2.7 lakh crore ($37 billion)–nearly as much as its defence budget in 2018–the report said.
• This translates to losing about 0.36 percent per unit of gross domestic product.

DEATHS

• India had the most (2,081) deaths in 2018 due to extreme weather events caused by climate change–cyclones, heavy rainfall, floods and landslides

POINTS ABOUT INDIA

• India was severely affected by the yearly monsoon season between June-September 2018, especially its southern state of Kerala where over 324 people died of drowning or got buried under landslides after one of the country’s worst floods flooded almost the entire state, leaving over 220000 people displaced with 20000 houses and 80 dams destroyed.
• Under long term vulnerability, India is ranked 17th.
• India’s east coast was also hit by Cyclone Titli and Cyclone Gaja in October and November 2018 respectively.

JAPAN TOPS GLOBAL CLIMATE RISK INDEX AS

•  The severe summer heat wave in July and August also hit Japan hard, claiming 138 lives and causing more than 70,000 people to be hospitalized with heat-related illnesses
• The intense rain in western Japan in July of that year had some areas recording two to four times more monthly rainfall than average, killing more than 200 people and forcing 2.3 million people to evacuate.
• In addition, powerful Typhoon Jebi landed in the Kansai region in September, crippling the area’s main international airport and causing tens of billions of yen in economic damage.

WORLD IS SUFFERING

• Worst affected in 2018: Japan, Philippines and Germany
• Worst affected between 1999-2018 (longterm index): Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti

DEATHS

• Deaths and financial loss between 1999-2018: Altogether, about 5 lakh people died as a direct result of more than 12 000 extreme weather events globally.
• Losses amounted to around US$ 3.54 trillion (in purchasing power parities).

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