Climate disasters, such as sudden heavy rains, intense tropical storms, as well as repeated flooding and droughts, are on the rise. Around 70% of disasters are now climate-related – up to 50% happening within the last two decades. They take a heavier human toll and come with a higher price tag. In the last decade, 2.4 billion people were affected by climate-related disasters, compared to 1.7 billion in the previous decade, with a rising cost to respond to these disasters.
Extreme weather and climate events have severe implications for society, lives and livelihoods. In addition to contributing to water and food insecurity and new climate-related health threats, they significantly undermine functionality and accessibility of critical infrastructure. Despite new policies and regulations which are applied in order to alleviate the negative effects of climate change, the climate crisis is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The following issues related to climate change are the most important:
Climate Change facts
- To prevent the earth from warming beyond 1.5°C, GHG emissions need to be reduced by 7.6% per year from now up until 2030.
- More than 90% of the rising temperature that happened on Earth between 1971 and 2010 occurred in the ocean, generating sea-level rise, increasing water acidity and coral bleaching.
- A temperature rise of 3ºC to 4ºC will happen by the end of the century if the world follows its current trajectory.
- As temperatures rise, extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe. These events can have devastating impacts on communities, economies, and ecosystems.
NTU’s involvement in fighting Climate Change
NTU conducts projects aiming at climate change mitigation by providing solutions to reduce GHG emissions and at climate change resilience by providing solutions for communities and ecosystems to resist the disastrous effects of climate change.
Among the solutions proposed, NTU addresses the issue of climate change in relation to the demands that booming urban populations pose on infrastructure, buildings, energy, water systems and drainage, sanitation, waste management, as well as housing and mobility. Climate proofing of existing critical infrastructure, assessment of weather warning systems, transport planning, coastal assets’ maintenance, as well as the systematic integration of climate change adaptation and resilience considerations throughout design and management processes are key actions led by NTU. In addition, NTU’s climate change interventions concern the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of selected infrastructure in order to improve climate change resilience of, notably, isolated and vulnerable island communities.
In the context of climate change, NTU offers services such as feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, business models and product development models, R&D, knowledge and capacity enhancement of key sector stakeholders, data sharing solutions, system performance assessments, as well as impact assessments. This sector is highly linked other sectors and subsectors in which NTU is very involved, including energy, transport and environment.
