Sustt: Storm warning, working on mental health, Indigenous Brazilians fight back, car firms are the new oil, fool's gold
As hurricanes get stronger, what can communities do to protect themselves?
Although tropical storms are not expected to become more frequent due to climate change they are becoming stronger as we saw with Hurricane Ian. Communities will have to adapt to better protect themselves this growing threat.
By Anja P.
What’s happening? The rainfall from Hurricane Ian was 10-14% heavier due to human-induced global warming, according to US scientists. As global air temperatures rise, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, increasing the amount of rainfall from storms. Climate change is also responsible for ocean warming and sea-level rise, which lead to rapid storm intensification and higher storm surges. (The Independent )
Why does this matter? Unlike other extreme weather events, tropical storms are not expected to become more frequent due to climate change – yet they are certainly becoming stronger .
With maximum sustained wind speeds of 155 mph, Hurricane Ian was the fifth most powerful storm to hit the mainland US, and was just 2 mph away from being classified as a Category 5 hurricane. The storm moved from Cuba over the Gulf of Mexico to Florida and the Carolina states, bringing 250-500 mm of rainfall and storm surges of 3.5-4.5 metres.
The damage – Most destruction was caused along Florida’s Gulf coast, where the official death toll has now reached 100. About 1.7 million people had to be evacuated , and 5.1 million households and businesses in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina were left temporarily without power.
Analysts from Verisk estimate insured losses from Ian flooding could range between $42-57bn , while others have said that total economic costs could reach $67bn. It has also been widely reported that just 18% of Florida homes are protected by flood insurance, with percentages varying widely between counties.
Too little too late – Meanwhile, some local authorities have been criticised for their disaster response. In Florida’s Lee County – one of the hardest-hit – the evacuation order was issued less than 24 hours before Ian made landfall. The failure to provide an earlier warning has stirred a debate about the reliability of traditional storm forecasting models and authorities’ risk communication strategies.
The role of building codes – As regions such as Florida are expected to be hit by more Category 4 and 5 hurricanes in the future, experts have pointed out the need for better adaptation strategies to reduce the risk for life and property.
For example, governments can update building codes so they require new buildings to be able to withstand higher wind speeds and incorporate impact-resistant glass. Florida’s building code is already among the most stringent in the country, yet it was not able to prevent widespread damage from Hurricane Ian, suggesting that building regulations are only one part of the solution.
Grey versus green infrastructure – Protecting coastal communities from storm surges and flooding also requires investments in shoreline defence. In New Orleans, for example, the government spent $14.5bn on floodgates and barriers after Hurricane Katrina, which successfully protected the city against extensive flooding from Hurricane Ida in 2021. Yet hard infrastructure such as sea walls is also known to contribute to coastal erosion , which exacerbates the problem in the long run.
It is therefore important that local authorities also invest in restoring coastal ecosystems, which provide a natural defence against extreme weather events such as hurricanes by buffering shorelines and averting flash floods. Such nature-based solutions come with the additional benefit of absorbing large amounts of CO2, which addresses the root cause of hurricane intensification and could prevent hazard-prone areas from becoming uninhabitable in the future.
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Working on mental health
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have issued guidelines on how to protect mental health in the workplace, saying that much more needs to be done. Alongside highlighting that psychological distress costs the global economy almost $1tn annually, the organisations say an estimated 12 billion work days are lost to depression and anxiety.?
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According to the WHO, 60% of the global population is currently in work and an estimated 15% of working-age adults had a mental disorder in 2019. The WHO has also said that the global prevalence of depression and anxiety rose by 25% during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Changes in the world of work, which have been expedited by the pandemic – particularly around remote working, automation and e-commerce – have created new psychosocial risks or exacerbated existing ones.
Despite these figures, a recent survey by Mercer Marsh Benefits found mental health appears to be decreasing in importance in the eyes of HR and risk managers. Going forward, Mercer suggests that global events such as the cost-of-living crisis, inflation, climate change, the Ukraine conflict and geopolitical tension will cause more stress and anxiety. As a result, employers need to do more to support mental health and learn lessons from the pandemic.
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Bite-sized insights
What else we're seeing this week ??
?? Indigenous Brazilians fight back – Brazil’s recent election result saw successes for representatives of Indigenous communities, with two Indigenous candidates elected to Congress for the first time. Overall, a record number of 186 Indigenous candidates stood for the general election this year – an increase of 40% compared to the 2018 election.
The rise in political participation is being used by Indigenous groups – known as important traditional protectors and guardians of land – to fight back against increasing marginalisation and growing violence toward them, which has increased substantially in recent years. Under Bolsonaro’s presidency, illegal land invasions, wildfires , logging and attacks on Indigenous communities have grown significantly, while environmental licensing requirements have been eroded .
Soberingly, the rights and safety of environmental defenders continue to worsen . According to NGO Global Witness, over 1,700 environmental activists have been killed in the past decade – averaging one every two days. Around two-thirds of all reported murders took place in Latin America, with the highest recorded death tolls located in Colombia and Brazil.
?? Car firms are the new oil – A recent study from the NGO Transport & Environment has found that a €1m investment in the automotive sector finances around 4,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions. In comparison, the same amount invested in oil companies would result in 5,000 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere.?
The findings come ahead of new EU regulations, set to come into force in 2023, that will require financial institutions to disclose Scope 3 emissions. Since 98% of a vehicle's emissions are generated over its lifetime from its fuel use, the inclusion of Scope 3 will make car stocks look much dirtier than they do currently.
Is Scope 3 a massive blind spot for investors? We have previously also discussed how tech stocks could be identified as some of the world’s largest emitters if Scope 3 emissions are factored into assessments.
?? Fool's gold – Research from the University of New Mexico has found that producing bitcoin causes climate damage equivalent to around 35% of the commodity's market value. This makes bitcoin roughly equivalent in terms of its value-related climate impact to beef, which causes harm equal to 33% of its market value, and natural gas, which reaches 46%. The study says bitcoin mining is far worse for the environment than mining for gold, which causes climate damage equivalent to around 4% of its market value.
Nevertheless, does cryptocurrency have a place in ESG investing? We've looked into this here .
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