Countries ill-prepared for climate crises: report

The environmental impacts of climate change in Asia and the Pacific are alarming, while most countries are still ill-prepared for multiple overlapping crises, a UN report released on Monday said.

The report, published by the United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, showed significant losses have been recorded over the past 40 years in five glaciers in the High-Mountain region in East, Northeast and South Asia due to climate change.

It noted increasing risks, which have been continuously hitting the region, are posing a serious challenge to adaptation planning and climate-resilient development.

Climate change and climate-induced disasters are threatening development in Asia and the Pacific, often undermining hard-won development gains and exacerbating the underlying drivers of poverty and societal inequalities by disproportionately burdening poor and marginalized groups, the report said.

The costs of climate change are high. ESCAP estimates of annual average losses resulting from natural and biological hazards in Asia and the Pacific are approximately $780 billion.

The agency also predicted Pacific island developing states and other less–developed countries will be the worst hit economically. Pacific island developing states, ecologically fragile countries heavily burdened by natural and biological hazards, are expected to face some of the worst climate change outcomes.

"This report sets out an ambitious agenda. Containing temperature rises to 1.5 C and achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century requires nothing less. Our hope is the analysis and proposals in this report can help raise ambitions and accelerate climate action in every corner of Asia and the Pacific," UN Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana said.

To close the emissions gap in key sectors, the report calls for efforts to be made to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. It also emphasized low-carbon mobility and logistical solutions as crucial for accelerating innovation, developing technologies and tapping into greener fuels.

Given the carbon neutrality commitments from the majority of Asia-Pacific countries, the report recommends strengthening regional policy dialogue and technical cooperation on a low-carbon, climate-resilient transition.