India hit by deadly heat waves 🌡️ and floods

This is an excerpt of the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter that goes into the heart of how companies and governments are grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox three times a week, subscribe here.

Hello,

This week, India continues to struggle with deadly temperatures and record rainfall which climate scientists attributed to human-driven climate change. Over in Brazil, international scientists say fatal floods were twice as likely there due to climate change.

India's unusually severe heat waves this summer are suspected to have killed more than 100 people between March and May and made tens of thousands ill, authorities and media reports said

May has been a particularly bad month for the region, with temperatures in the capital Delhi and the nearby state of Rajasthan touching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) 🌡️.

Click here for a Reuters explainer on what caused the unprecedented heat in the country.

Record rainfall ⛈️

In contrast, parts of eastern India have been reeling from cyclone Remal. Heavy rain in the northeastern state of Assam has killed 14 people since Tuesday.

Cities in the southern states of Karnataka and Kerala have also been inundated by heavy rains ☔.

On Sunday, India's tech hub of Bengaluru in Karnataka received 111.1 mm of rainfall - the most recorded for a single day in June since 1891.

Local media footage showed vehicles and pedestrians wading through flooded streets in Bengaluru, with fallen trees blocking roads and massive traffic jams clogging major intersections.

In the island nation of Sri Lanka, at least 15 people have been killed by flooding and landslides after heavy monsoon rain lashed the region, the country's Disaster Management Centre said.

At least 33 people, including election officials on duty in India's just-concluded general election, died of suspected heat stroke in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north, and Odisha in the east.

A confluence of factors has led to a sweltering summer in South Asia, a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.

The worst disaster in Rio Grande do Sul’s history

Speaking of which, climate change made the recent flooding that devastated southern Brazil twice as likely, according to a team of international scientists. They said that the rains were also intensified by the natural El Nino phenomenon 🌊☀️.

More than 170 people were killed and nearly 580,000 displaced after storms and floods battered Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul last month, with local authorities describing it as the worst disaster in the region's history.

Even in the current climate, experts from the World Weather Attribution group said the heavy rainfall that submerged entire towns and wrecked critical infrastructure was an "extremely rare" event expected to occur only once every 100 to 250 years. 

But it would have been even rarer without the effects of burning fossil fuels, the group said.

By combining weather observations with results from climate models, the scientists estimated that climate change had made the event in southern Brazil twice as likely and around 6% to 9% more intense.

The El Nino phenomenon, which contributes to higher temperatures in many parts of the world and boosts rainfall and flood risk in parts of the Americas, also played a part in the recent disaster, the scientists said.

El Nino and La Nina of it all

The El Nino weather pattern that can cause extreme events such as wildfires and tropical cyclones is forecast to swing back into generally cooler La Nina conditions later this year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

El Nino is a naturally occurring warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, while La Nina is characterized by cold ocean temperatures 🥶 in the equatorial Pacific region and is linked to floods and droughts.

"The end of El Nino does not mean a pause in long-term climate change as our planet will continue to warm due to heat-trapping greenhouse gasses," said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.

WMO said there was a 60% chance that La Nina conditions would take hold between July and September, and a 70% chance of them occurring between August and November.

In Conversation

Mark Campanale, founder of UK-based non-profit think tank Carbon Tracker, shares his thoughts ahead of World Environment Day on June 5:

“While we are on track for nearly 3°C of global warming by the end of the century, the climate models used by the finance sector claim that such warming would reduce global GDP by just 2.1%.

This is based on flawed projections which work on the assumptions that the damage caused by the climate crisis is linear and that economies will keep expanding for decades as temperatures increase – which is clearly nonsense, produced by economists in isolation from the growing body of climate science.

Experts, such as Bates Wells, say there are legal ramifications of continued use of flawed advice on climate damages: business leaders and investors are legally responsible for taking climate impacts into consideration in their planning. 

But if the models they’re working from are not accurate, how can they fulfill that obligation?

World Environment Day, the annual milestone to help catalyze faster action for the protection of the planet, is a major opportunity to call for Governments to ensure that the financial sector follows climate scenario models based on data that is scientifically accurate and up-to-date."

ESG Lens

Cash-rich Exxon Mobil and Chevron are bolstering their oil and gas drilling inventory with multi-billion-dollar takeovers as they bet on resilient demand for years to come.

The consolidation wave sweeping through the U.S. energy sector that spurred deals worth $250 billion in 2023 shows no signs of slowing as companies rush to deploy their cash hoard from higher oil prices into building even bigger reserves through acquisitions.

ESG Spotlight

Today’s spotlight focuses on Bolivian ranchers Elizabeth and Edwin Churata who are learning how to survive in a drier, hotter climate 🥵.

They are adapting new water-storage techniques as their traditional ponds dry up, and changing how they feed their cattle and sheep 🐑.

They've had to adjust fast. In the past few years, the Churatas' farm in the highland Andean region of Oruro has been hit by climate phenomena known as La Nina and recently the reverse El Nino, the strongest one in 20 years.

Many Bolivian farmers have for years resisted changing ancestral growing practices. They have traditionally relied on wild grasses to feed their animals, burning the grass stalks and praying for adequate rainfall.

But many are adapting under pressure, with training programs for farmers by bodies such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) teaching them how to build water tanks with wireframes and waterproof fabric.

Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.