How climate change will affect you
Airports take action against rising seas and storms
Global airport operators, faced with rising sea levels and more powerful storms as the climate changes, are starting to invest in measures including higher runways, seawalls and better drainage systems to future-proof immovable assets. In early September, a seawall at Japan’s Kansai International Airport built on a reclaimed island near Osaka, was breached during Typhoon Jebi. The runway was flooded and it took 17 days to fully restore airport operations, at a high cost to the region’s economy as well as the dozens of airlines that cancelled flights. Major airports in Hong Kong, mainland China and North Carolina were also closed due to tropical storms last month. Such incidents highlight the disaster risks to investors and insurers exposed to a sector with an estimated $262 billion of projects under construction globally, according to Fitch Solutions. Earl Heffintrayer, the lead analyst covering US airports at Moody’s, said the risk of climate change became apparent to investors after Superstorm Sandy closed major New York airports for days in 2012. San Francisco International Airport, built on reclaimed land that is sinking, has completed a feasibility study on a $383 million project to make the airport more resilient to sea level rises by 2025.
Europe will soon overtake US in electric cars
European carmakers are rolling out electric vehicles like the ones on view at the Paris Motor Show (shown) to burnish their reputations as technology leaders and to compete with Tesla. But also because EU regulations don’t leave them much choice. New emission standards mean Europe will soon see an upsurge in electric offerings, outpacing the US, where the regulatory push has eased under the Trump administration, but still likely lagging China, where the government is mandating more e-cars. The new rules could increase sales of electrics in Europe from a minuscule 0.6 percent of the 14.5-million vehicle annual market to the high single digits over the next five or six years. From about 10 available models there would be several dozen to choose from. Carmakers also must cut average emissions of CO2 for new cars sold in Europe from the 2015 goal of 130 grams of CO2 per driven km to 95 grams per kilometer in 2021.
Forests emerge as ‘unsung hero’ of climate action
Scientists from around the world called for stepped-up efforts to use forests to keep global warming to the lowest limit agreed by governments in 2015, as a key report on how to meet that goal was published in South Korea. “Forests really are the unsung hero of our struggle to address climate change,” said Deborah Lawrence, a University of Virginia professor and one of 40 scientists who backed a statement emphasising how the Earth’s climate depends on forests. The natural processes by which forests suck in and store carbon help reduce levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - and forests also underpin key parts of the world’s economy, the scientists said. Yet humans have let forests become degraded, even as the resulting risks of disaster and the costs of repairing the damage rise, they added.