• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair May 23, 2023
Ontario Overrules Cities to Push Gas Plant Expansions May 23, 2023
Climate Concerns Drive Job Choices for 40% of Workers Under 40 May 23, 2023
PEROVSKITES: Qcells Plans First Production Line for ‘Miracle’ Solar Cell May 23, 2023
Tokyo Residents Rally to Protect Trees, Stop Skyscrapers in Iconic Urban Park May 21, 2023
Next
Prev

Emission Reductions Stall as Global Heating Makes Kuwait ‘Unlivable’

February 13, 2022
Reading time: 3 minutes

pxhere

pxhere

1
SHARES
 

Kuwait, already one of the world’s hottest countries and one of the highest per capita emitters, is rapidly becoming unlivable as a result of rising temperatures brought on by climate change. Yet climate action in the country has been stymied by a lack of political will and a population that is heavily reliant on oil.

“Even if the world manages to cut emissions quickly enough to stave off catastrophic global warming, countries will have to adapt to more extreme weather,” writes Bloomberg Green. “As it stands, experts say Kuwait’s plan is nowhere near enough to keep the country livable.”

  • The climate news you need. Subscribe now to our engaging new weekly digest.
  • You’ll receive exclusive, never-before-seen-content, distilled and delivered to your inbox every weekend.
  • The Weekender: Succinct, solutions-focused, and designed with the discerning reader in mind.
Subscribe

Kuwait’s daytime temperatures can exceed 50°C and are steadily climbing. In 2016, the mercury reached 54°C—the highest recorded temperature on Earth in the last 76 years, according to Bloomberg. 

The heat is intense enough to pose a threat to life for outdoor workers, often labouring migrants from developing countries. A recent study found that, while the country’s death rate doubles on hot days for the population as a whole, it triples for non-Kuwaiti men who make up a large portion of the migrant labourer population.

The heat is also lethal for wildlife, as indicated by the preponderance of dead birds unable to find shade or water in the summer months, or stray cats found near death from heat and exhaustion. “Even wild foxes are abandoning a desert that no longer blooms after the rains for what small patches of green remain in the city, where they’re treated as pests,” says Bloomberg.

The Kuwaiti cabinet recently ordered a review of the country’s plans to reduce emissions. So far, Kuwait’s pledge to reduce emissions by 7.4% by 2035 falls drastically short of the 45% cut that would be necessary to align with the Paris climate agreement target to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, Bloomberg reports.

But achieving any change will be an uphill battle. Unlike many countries, Kuwait doesn’t lack the resources to make the necessary changes, but its status as OPEC’s fourth-largest oil exporter undermines political motivation to cut emissions. As a result, there has been little progress on the plans on paper so far, like a pledge to produce 15% of the country’s power from renewable sources by 2030.

Kuwait’s citizens themselves are among the highest per capita emitters worldwide, with lifestyles that are strongly reliant on fossil fuels. Personal vehicles are so integral to Kuwaiti society that many are unwilling to consider alternatives, and oil—heavily subsidized by the government—is a major source of electricity generation. The low prices enjoyed by citizens, and their high consumption, means any efforts to diminish oil’s role in the country would be “politically toxic.”

As “home to the world’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund and just over 4.5 million people, it’s not a lack of resources that stands in the way of cutting [Kuwait’s] greenhouse gases and adapting to a warmer planet, but rather political inaction,” Bloomberg writes.

Continue Reading



in Ending Emissions, Energy Politics, Energy Subsidies, Environmental Justice, Health & Safety, Heat & Temperature, Middle East, Oil & Gas

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Arctic Circle/flickr
COP Conferences

‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair

May 23, 2023
332
Jon Sullivan/flickr
Clean Electricity Grid

Ontario Overrules Cities to Push Gas Plant Expansions

May 23, 2023
818
Andrés Nieto Porras/wikimedia commons
Climate Denial & Greenwashing

‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Net-Zero’ Claims Face Global Greenwash Crackdown

May 23, 2023
180

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Activités culturelles UdeM/Flickr

Climate Concerns Drive Job Choices for 40% of Workers Under 40

May 23, 2023
146
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Ontario Overrules Cities to Push Gas Plant Expansions

May 23, 2023
818
McDonald's/flickr

McDonald’s Failing to Follow Through on Climate Promises, Critics Say

December 17, 2021
1.4k
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
198
Arctic Circle/flickr

‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair

May 23, 2023
332
University of Oxford Press Office/flickr

PEROVSKITES: Qcells Plans First Production Line for ‘Miracle’ Solar Cell

May 23, 2023
350

Recent Posts

Andrés Nieto Porras/wikimedia commons

‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Net-Zero’ Claims Face Global Greenwash Crackdown

May 23, 2023
180
peellden/Wikimedia Commons

Scientists Sound Alarm on Methane Emissions, Habitat Hazards at U.S. Hydro Dams

May 23, 2023
139
nakashi/flickr

Tokyo Residents Rally to Protect Trees, Stop Skyscrapers in Iconic Urban Park

May 21, 2023
452
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/unrecognizable-from-the-original-design-suburban-renovations-disprove-cookie-cutter-stereotype

Embrace Suburbs, Exurbs in Climate Planning, Researchers Urge Cities

May 21, 2023
41
Trocker767/wikimedia commons

Renewable-Powered Greenhouse Brings Fresh Produce Bounty to Gjoa Haven Inuit

May 21, 2023
53
HarmvdB/pixabay

Vermont Gas Utility Pivots to Heat Pumps

May 21, 2023
348
Next Post
Wally Gobetz/flickr

Koch-Backed ALEC Pushes U.S. States to Blacklist Investors that Boycott Fossil Industry

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}