Results from the WEF Global Risks Perception Survey 2020. The Global Risks Network chart shows how respondents rank the most concerning risks globally and their drivers. Data: World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2020 / The Global Risks Report 2021. Graphic: WEF

WEF Global Risks Report 2021: Risk landscape dominated by pandemic and climate change – “Ignoring risks doesn’t make them go away”

By Colleen Zitt 3 February 2021 (Zurich) – As Chief Risk Officer for Zurich North America, I eagerly await the annual release of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report. This year’s 2021 edition is no exception. Its thoughtful, laser-sharp analysis of short- and long-term global risks — dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change — […]

Observed sea-level rise in Rockport, Texas, 1969-2020 and projected to 2050. Rockport has the second-highest annual rise rate (7.1 mm/year in 2020), and the highest projected sea-level rise for 2050 at 0.82 meters (2.69 ft) above mean sea level in 1992. Graphic: VIMS

U.S. sea-level report cards: 2020 again trends toward acceleration – Water levels at 26 of 32 stations rose at higher rate than in 2019

By David Malmquist 24 January 2021 (VIMS) – Sea level “report cards” issued annually by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science add further evidence of an accelerating rate of sea-level rise during 2020 at nearly all tidal stations along the U.S. coastline. The team’s web-based report cards project sea level to […]

Snow covers an oil field as pump jacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, U.S, on Saturday, 13 February 2021. Photo: Matthew Busch / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Texas freeze led to release of tons of air pollutants as refineries shut – “These emissions can dwarf the usual emissions of the refineries by orders of magnitude”

By Laura Sanicola and Erwin Seba 21 February 2021 NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The largest U.S. oil refiners released tons of air pollutants into the skies over Texas this past week, according to figures provided to the state, as refineries and petrochemical plants in the region scrambled to shut production during frigid weather. An arctic […]

Map showing record cold temperatures across the United States on 16 February 2021 caused by winter Storm Uri, compared with the average temperatures over the 1979-2000 period. Temperatures were far colder than average and caused widespread power failures across Texas and other states. Data: National Weather Service / Global Forecast System / ClimateReanalyzer.org / Climate Change Institute / University of Maine. Graphic: The New York Times

How one Texas storm exposed an energy grid unprepared for climate change

By Josh Lederman 17 February 2021 WASHINGTON (NBC News) – A devastating winter storm that has plunged Texas into an electricity crisis offers warning signs for the U.S. as the Biden administration seeks to prepare for a future in which extreme weather is a greater risk and America is almost entirely powered by renewable energy. Generating energy is one challenge. But […]

Projected energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, 2020-2050. Graphic: EIA

EIA energy report explores impact of COVID-19 on U.S. energy mix through 2050 – Return to 2019 levels of U.S. energy consumption to take years – Energy-related CO2 emissions fall before leveling off or rising

By Ari Kahan 3 February 2021 (EIA) – The United States will likely take years to return to 2019 levels of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions following the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy and global energy sector, according to projections in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021). […]

A Mexican miner emerges from a shaft in a coal mine in Agujita, Coahuila state, on 13 November 2012. Photo: Yuri Cortéz / AFP / Getty Images

Mexico was once a climate leader, but now it’s betting big on coal – “No other G20 country has such abnormal or retrograde energy policies as this government”

By David Agren 15 February 2021 SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (The Guardian) – The men on the midnight shift smoked cigarettes and cracked jokes in the glow of their helmet lights as they prepared to go underground. They were loading safety equipment and coils of pipe onto wheelbarrows, in readiness for a second shift […]

This frame grab from video provided by KK Productions shows a massive flood of water, mud, and debris flowing in the Chamoli District after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Sunday, 7 February 2021. Photo: KK Productions / AP

Rescuers search for 171 missing people after Indian glacier causes devastating flood – “Most scholars of Himalayan rivers have been warning about these risks for decades”

By Hannah Ellis-Petersen 8 February 2021 DELHI, India (The Guardian) – Twenty six bodies have been recovered in the Indian Himalayas and scores more people are still missing after a second day of rescue efforts after a glacier break that caused an avalanche of water and debris to engulf a river valley and demolish two […]

Map showing market losses per postcode in the “Black Summer” bushfires in Australia, 30 December 2019 - 5 January 2020. Graphic: PERILS AG

Final insured losses for “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019/2020 in Australia estimated at A$1.866 billion

ZURICH, 6 January 2021 (PERILS) – PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has today disclosed its fourth and final industry loss estimate for the Australian bushfires of 2019/2020. The final estimate of the insurance market loss is AUD 1,866m. This compares to the third loss estimate of AUD 1,861 million which […]

A bushfire rages near Perth, Australia, on 5 January 2021. Bushfires burned out of control in Geraldton and Beechina in the Shire of Mundaring in the late afternoon. Photo: The West Australian

The pandemic taught us how not to deal with climate change

By James Temple 1 January 2021 (Technology Review) – There’s a case to be made that 2020, for all the sacrifices it demanded and tragedies it inflicted, could at least mark a turning point on climate change. It’s now possible that global oil demand and greenhouse-gas emissions may have already peaked in 2019, since the pandemic could slow economic […]

Infographic showing costs of natural disasters in 2020. Global losses from natural disasters in 2020 came to US$210 billion. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic was hyperactive, with a record-setting 30 storms, 13 of which reached hurricane status. Graphic: Munich Re

Global natural disaster figures for 2020 – “The hurricane season in the North Atlantic was hyperactive”

7 January 2021 (Munich Re) – Global losses from natural disasters in 2020 came to US$ 210bn, of which some US$ 82bn was insured. Both overall losses and insured losses were significantly higher than in the previous year (2019: US$ 166bn and US$ 57bn respectively).  The US share of losses was rather high: Natural disasters in the […]

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