The Dubai Deluge: Is This the Future?

For the first time in its history, Dubai experienced windstorms, torrential rain, and chaos.

Dubai, one of the iconic cities in the world in terms of infrastructure and development, has been brought to its knees in a few hours of heavy rains. However, why are people still reluctant to accept climate change?

Nobody has been spared by climate change, not even the developed world’s economies or the developing world’s. But as of yet, the UAE has not seen a catastrophic event of this scale related to climate change. As I write this blog, Dubai, one of the first countries to aid the nations in need following natural disasters, is being hit by natural wrath. It is the first of its kind in 75 years in the history of Dubai. Rains lashed across the UAE (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar). Human lives and animals have not been spared.

While the nation will eventually come to terms with the loss and destruction of lives and property, the administration is still working to determine what caused this atypical shift in the climate.

What is more important is that Dubai hosted the COP 28 in Nov-Dec last year. The country is also at the forefront of transforming its cities into sustainable cities. It is transitioning to renewable energy and building future-ready infrastructure keeping a greener, cooler planet in mind.

As of today, Dubai is a living example of the adage that no one can withstand nature’s fury. Even as our TV screens (prime TV news channels) and social media are flooded with videos of water logging and helpless citizens stranded at various locations, one underlying factor comes to the fore: lack of infrastructure and unpreparedness of the local administration to tackle flooding and the resultant deluge.

Climate change and the infra connect:

This draws my focus on the inherent need to connect our cities and their infrastructure with a strong network that can seamlessly carry rainwater into the underground stormwater drains or use dams to prevent further damage. Mud roads or soil are the natural absorbents. These solutions serve as a reminder of the significance of the ancient architectural wonders that our ancestors constructed before perhaps even establishing the foundation for a new home.

But the world has moved with time. We have progressed with little regard for the environment and nature. These are warning signs for all of us.

The people and city of Dubai will likewise gradually come back to life. With strong regulations, a focus on compliance, competent leadership, and a thriving economy, I do not doubt that the city will maintain normalcy more quickly. In the background, policymakers and think tanks will undoubtedly be donning their thinking caps and considering ways to both determine future flood preparedness and prevent similar tragedies in the future.

It is acceptance, action and fast-tracking mitigation strategies that can save us from nature’s fury.

The Delhi-based Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) has stated that the world requires $9.2 trillion annually in disaster-resilient infrastructure. The upgraded infrastructure will help society achieve its net zero and sustainable development goals by 2050.

In its inaugural biennial report, CDRI emphasized the political and economic justification for investing in disaster-resilient infrastructure to mitigate climate-related disaster effects.

Key highlights:

The report reveals that disaster and climate risk-related asset loss and service disruptions globally result in an average annual loss of over $700 billion, primarily affecting low-income countries.

• 60% of the infrastructure needed by 2050 for sustainable development and net zero emissions is yet to be constructed
• An annual $9.2 trillion investment is required to tackle infrastructure deficits
• $2.76 trillion must be allocated to low- and middle-income countries
• China, India, Japan, and the US are predicted to account for 50% of global infrastructure investment, with 80% within the G20 alone in the coming years

The importance of a resilient infrastructure for net zero:

Infrastructure investment in low-income countries is slowing down. Investing in resilience is crucial for the long design lifecycles of many infrastructure assets to shape development trajectories for the coming decades.

Inadequate planning, design, standards, regulation, compliance, maintenance, operation, and governance are the main causes of the global infrastructure deficit.

Impact:

Neglecting resilience could result in stagnant social and economic development, stranded infrastructure assets, increasing liabilities, unreliable services, and growing existential risk.

Alternately, investing in infrastructure resilience can lead to quality essential services, reduced damage to assets, lower systemic risk, and sustainable social and economic development.

The Centre on Wednesday announced Rs 3,760 crore viability gap funding (VGF) to boost infrastructure for battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects in India.

India aims to meet its 50% energy needs through renewable sources by 2030. The scheme is designed to harness the potential of solar and wind power.

Mr. Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, GoI, said, “The government will spend Rs. 3,760 crore and it will be a 100 percent central grant… Battery energy storage systems are key to fulfilling rising energy demands.”

He added, “We don’t have the capacity. The VGF will help add 4,000 MW hours of battery energy storage systems by 2025-26…Power distributing companies (discoms) will be the first beneficiaries.”

The minister said that by offering VGF support, GoI wants to achieve levelized cost of storage (LCoS) ranging from ₹5.50-6.60 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), making stored renewable energy a viable option to manage peak power demand across the country. Carbon emissions will be reduced as the dependency on fossil fuel will decrease.”

The funding will be disbursed in five tranches, which will be linked with the various stages of implementation of BESS projects, Mr Thakur said.

Global leaders at the recently concluded World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) emphasised the need for sustainable finance to fuel green growth.

The speakers emphasised the lack of new instruments to facilitate long-term lending to fuel green growth, particularly in emerging economies and least-developed countries.

Among the speakers, here’s a round-up of what six key global leaders said at the summit.

“Though renewable energy has received adequate funding, areas such as climate adaptation, sustainable consumption and production, biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and pollution abatement have not received the necessary funding”: Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

“Finance is central to combating climate change. The central question here is whether we can transform the global financial system to meet today’s challenges in ways that promote low-carbon, resilient growth”: Manish Bapna, President Natural Resources Defence Council, India

“ADB is currently developing innovative financing models to facilitate the transition to clean energy by financing the retirement of coal-fired power plants and repurposing them to provide renewable energy and grid services, as well as lending to countries to develop climate change policies”: Dr Pradeep Tharakan, Regional Advisor, South Asia, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

“Facilitating climate finance and diversifying the fiscal base to support green growth should lead the priorities list. Capacity building should be prioritised to achieve the necessary transformational change. Both national and sub-national finance ministries must boost their capacity with tools like green budgeting and carbon tax and pricing”: Helen Clarkson, CEO, The Climate Group

“We need three things: a vision of what we want to do, an inter-institutional framework to do what we want to do and leadership”: Laszlo Broberly, state counsellor to the prime minster of Romania

“Our recommendations on climate finance would be to expand the scope of climate finance and make climate smart transition of the financial sector overall,” according to the Green Development Pact. Also, rather than improving the resilience of existing infrastructure, let us build infrastructure that improves our resilience”: Jagjeet Singh Sareen, Principal, Dalberg Advisors

Source: ANI Press Release

Tag: Infrastructure