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Dhaka is among the top 10 per cent cities in the world to be at risk from climate change and extreme weather, according to a new global ranking report.
The report was published by XDI (The Cross Dependency Initiative) on Monday, said a press release.
As per the ranking, Dhaka stands at 101, Chittagong at 156, Rajshahi at 308, Sylhet at 401, Mymensingh at 410, Khulna at 519, Barishal at 713 and Rangpur at 750.
The XDI Gross Domestic Climate Risk dataset compares over 2,600 states and provinces around the world.
The report also shows that economic hubs across Asia are at the highest risk of damage from extreme weather and climate change. Especially, 200 provinces in Asia, with Chinese provinces particularly will be at risk by 2050.
The findings from the XDI Gross Domestic Climate Risk ranking underscore the importance of climate-resilient investment frameworks for Asia and pricing physical climate risk into supply chains.
“In terms of the overall scale of damage risk, and in terms of risk escalation, Asia has the most to lose as climate change extreme weather increases, and the most to gain from preventing worsening climate change and accelerating climate-resilient investment,” said XDI CEO Rohan Hamden.
“This is the first time there has been a physical climate risk analysis focused exclusively on the built environment, comparing every state, province and territory in the world. It is particularly significant for investors, as extensive built infrastructure generally overlaps with high levels of economic activity and capital value.”
However, the Chinese provinces have the highest results for damage risk of any of the provinces and territories in this analysis. This is because these provinces are large, host extensive industrial, trade, residential and commercial development and are exposed to coastal sea level rise and riverine and surface flooding.
Hence, highly developed and globally significant Asian economic hubs in the top 100 for damage risk include Beijing, Jakarta, Hồ Chí Minh City, Taiwan and Mumbai.
“We’re releasing this analysis in response to demand from investors for data on sub-sovereign and regional risk. The findings from the XDI Gross Domestic Climate Risk ranking underscore the importance of pricing physical climate risk in financial markets, including bond markets, given the amount of capital investment represented by the assets at risk in the provinces identified, the vulnerability of global supply chains, and the need for climate resilience to inform investment,” said Mr Hamden.
“It is crucial for companies, governments and investors to understand the financial and economic implications of physical climate risk and weigh this risk in their decision-making before these costs escalate beyond financial tipping points.”
“This is the most sophisticated global analysis of physical climate risk to date, offering a breadth and depth and granularity on a scale we haven’t seen before. Now – for the first time – the finance industry can directly compare Mumbai, New York and Berlin using a like-for-like methodology,” Mr Hamden added.
The XDI Gross Domestic Climate Risk ranking reflects the physical risk to the built environment from eight climate change extreme weather hazards: riverine and surface flooding, coastal inundation, extreme heat, forest fire, soil movement (drought-related), extreme wind and freeze-thaw.
The ranking is based on a data pool representing the built environment of the terrestrial world, with an asset level, bottom-up analysis using over 320 million data points. Global climate models, combined with local weather and environmental data and engineering archetypes calculate the likely damage to and failure of features of the built environment from hazards overtime under the IPCC’s Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5.
