fight to Italy’s worst drought in 70 years, here are the top climate stories from this week.
1. Pakistan declares national emergency as flood death toll reaches 937
Pakistan government has declared a national emergency as rain-induced floods have so far killed 937 people, including 343 children, and left at least 30 million without shelter. Sindh Province reported the highest number of deaths as 306 people lost their lives due to floods and rain-related incidents from June 14 to Thursday, according to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMADisplaced people carry belongings after they salvaged usable items from their flood-hit home as they wade through a flooded area in Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, Aug. 25, 2022. (AP/PTI)
Balochistan reported 234 deaths whereas Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province recorded 185 and 165 deaths, respectively. In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, 37 people were killed while nine deaths were reported in the Gilgit-Baltistan region during the current monsoon rains.
2. California to phase out gas vehicles
California set itself on a path to end the era of gas-powered cars, with air regulators adopting the world's most stringent rules for transitioning to zero-emission vehiCars are parked in the employee parking lot at Tesla Inc's US vehicle factory in Fremont, California. (Reuters, file)
The move by the California Air Resources Board to have all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs be electric or hydrogen by 2035 is likely to reshape the US auto market, which gets 10% of its sales from the nation's most populous state. But such a radical transformation in what people drive will also require at least 15 times more vehicle chargers statewide, a more robust energy grid and vehicles that people of all income levels can afford. (AP3. Dangerous heat predicted to hit 3 times more often in future
What's considered officially “dangerous heat” in coming decades will likely hit much of the world at least three times more often as climate change worsens, according to a new studIn much of Earth's wealthy mid-latitudes, spiking temperatures and humidity that feel like 39.4 degrees Celsius or higher — now an occasional summer shock — statistically should happen 20 to 50 times a year by mid-century, said a study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. By 2100, that brutal heat index may linger for most of the summer in places like the US Southeast, the study's author said.y.)cles.).