Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #31

The good news: 'Ghotala': A song on India's rivers, battery costs down by 90% in 15 years; The bad news: Heat waves, mid-air turbulence and the absence of 'climate change' in India's election debates.

Welcome to a new edition of the news digest where as always, I bring to you 5 climate stories

• 2 sunny ones that give us hope

• 3 stormy ones that are a cause for alarm

🌞 Sunny news 🌞

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1. Ghotala | What’s happening with Pune’s rivers

I came across this quirky music video that talks about the 3 big villains that are killing our rivers are: Pollution, Illegal construction along rivers and the Climate crisis.

While the content of the video itself is rather grim, I believe that projects like these can help take the conversation about the environment and climate change mainstream. A catchy song is definitely a more effective way to educate people about what’s ruining our rivers, what impact it could have and spur action than a 100 page report. And hence to me, this is a story of hope worth featuring in the ‘Sunny section’

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2. Battery costs have fallen by 90% in less than 15 years!

Growth in batteries outpaced almost all other clean energy technologies in 2023 as falling costs, advancing innovation and supportive industrial policies helped drive up demand according to a recent report by the IEA (International Energy Agency)

Global battery storage capacity additions, 2010-2023 (Source: IEA)

What is happening?

• In less than 15 years, battery costs have fallen by more than 90%, one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies.

  • Lithium-ion battery prices have declined from USD 1400 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to less than USD 140 per kilowatt-hour in 2023

Why does this matter?

• Batteries enable a greater shares of renewables in the electricity mix. They help smooth out the variability of renewable electricity from technologies such as wind and solar and can alleviate grid congestion in times of high supply, offering an outlet to capture and store excess renewable electricity that would otherwise be lost.

• They are thus a critical piece if the world has to meet its target of tripling renewable energy as pledged in COP 28 . To triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, 1500 GW of energy storage, of which 1200 GW is expected to come from batteries

• Batteries can also play a vital role in improving access to electricity for those who still lack it. In a pathway to achieving universal energy access worldwide by 2030, they help 400 million people in emerging and developing economies gain electricity access through decentralised solutions like solar home systems and mini grids with batteries.

Sources to read further:

• Batteries and secure energy transitions (IEA report)

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⛈️ Stormy news ⛈️

3. ‘Climate change’ makes it to party manifestos (somewhat) but gets no talktime campaigns in India’s elections

India, the world's largest democracy, is experiencing some of the worst impacts of climate change. Yet 'climate change' is not really an election issue.

While ‘Sustainable bharat’ and ‘Environment’ have made their way into election manifestos of national parties, they haven’t taken up much talk time in campaigning

What is happening?

• Unprecedented climate-change disasters – prolonged heatwaves, flash floods, drought, agricultural devastation and landslides – are affecting people in India.

• ‘Sustainable Bharat’ features as a section in the BJP manifesto and ‘Environment, climate change and disaster management’ features in the Congress manifesto, albeit on the last page.

• However, discussions on climate change and its impacts have got no voice share in actually campaigning and political debates

• In interesting trivia, India actually has registered political party - iGP (India Green Party)! It was founded in 2017 and is fielding a grand total of 3 candidates in the current general elections.

Why does this matter?

• The conversation on ‘climate change’ needs to becomes mainstream and one way for that to happen is that it becomes an important part of the political narrative.

• Laws and policies have a huge role to play in addressing the issue of climate change. Hence, it’s important that issued related to climate change feature in political debates and we understand what a political party’s stance is on them, as an indicator of the kind of policies it is likely to put in place were it to come to power.

If you are interested in this, you can read a deep dive I wrote:

• The politics of climate change: Does India need a 'Green party'?

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4. Severe mid-air turbulence results in a rare death and injuries to more than 30: Is climate change to blame?

One passenger died and 30 others were injured aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that was hit by "severe turbulence," on Tuesday 21st May.

What happened?

• The aircraft flying from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence about 10 hours after departure. This occurred over the basin of Irrawaddy river.

• Passengers on the flight said the plane had a dramatic drop of 6000 ft in about 3 minutes, and as a result passengers not wearing a seatbelt were launched into the cabin ceiling.

• 1 passenger has died. He had a heart condition and probably had a heart attack. 7 others were critically injured mostly due to head injuries.

• Death due to turbulence in air is extremely rare. There have been deaths on smaller private jets, although usually only when the turbulence results in a crash.

Why does this matter?

• Incidents of clear-air turbulence — which is difficult to forecast and avoid because it is not associated with storms — are on the rise due to climate change, due to at least one study.

• A 2023 study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that severe clear-air turbulence increased by more than 50% over the North Atlantic Ocean from 1979 to 2020.

• The results suggest that global warming may be driving instability in the jet stream, which flows like a river of air from west to east, is fuelled by temperature differences between cooler regions to the north and warmer air masses to the south.

• There isn’t a lot of research and literature on the topic, but there are a few studies that suggest that climate change may have a role to play in increasing turbulence in the air.

Sources for further reading

• Climate change and turbulence: Experts weigh in after death on Singapore Airlines flight (NBC news)

• What causes air turbulence and is the climate crisis making it worse? (Guardian)

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5. Delhi orders schools to shut down early as it braces a severe heat wave

What is happening?

• India’s weather bureau has warned of “severe heatwave conditions” this week, reaching a peak of 47.4C in Delhi’s Najafgarh suburb on Monday – the hottest temperature countrywide.

• As a result, the Delhi administration has ordered schools to close early for holidays as temperatures hit 47.4C

• Authorities in other states – including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan – have also ordered schools to close

• Humans are not the only ones getting impacted. There have been reports of birds becoming ill due to the extreme heat and also dying due to a heat stroke.

Why does this matter?

• India is used to searing summer temperatures, but years of scientific research have found the climate crisis is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

• This is yet another example of how extreme weather precipitated by the climate crisis will affect our daily lives - from when our kids study to how we work.

Sources for further reading:

• Delhi orders schools to close early for holidays as temperatures hit 47.4C (The Guardian)

You can read previous editions of the newsletter -

Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #30

Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #29

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