Dhaka among top 10pc cities at risk from climate change

Staff Reporter :
Dhaka is among the top 10% of global ranking cities to be at risk from climate change and extreme weather, according to a new ranking report.
The report was published by XDI (The Cross Dependency Initiative), a world-leading independent physical climate risk analysis company, on Monday.
According to the report, Dhaka was in the 101st position in the rank based on aggregated damage ratio and 236th in the rank based on the average damage ratio.
Dhaka falls into the Asia region that experienced the greatest escalation in damage from 1990 to 2050 anywhere in the world.
The report, titled “Global Domestic Climate Risk Ranking”, ranked over 2,600 jurisdictions around the world in 2050 according to modelled projections of damage to the built environment from extreme weather and climate change including from flooding, forest fires and sea level rise.
It also identified which of these jurisdictions see the greatest escalation of modelled damage from 1990 to 2050.
The results also showed that globally-significant states and provinces in China and the United States will be hit hardest,  
along with major cities and centres of economic activity around the world.
The report calculated the damage ratio to find out the most vulnerable nations in terms of being affected by climate change and extreme weather.
The damage ratio is an expression of the annual average loss from extreme weather damage to a property as a fraction of the replacement cost of that property.
Damage Ratio is used in the XDI modelling as it enables comparable assessment of extreme weather and climate risk across different countries where the value of properties or the cost of repair may vary considerably.
Two versions of damage ratio were provided in the ranking, aggregated damage ratio and average Damage Ratio.
The aggregate damage ratio looked at the total amount of damage to the built environment in a particular province. Damage Ratios are aggregated and normalized to give insight into the extent of risk to the built environment as a whole so that states with more stock exposed can be identified.
The average damage ratio provided insight into states and provinces that may have fewer properties but may be subjected to greater or more widespread damage, so the proportion of damage is higher.
“We’re releasing this analysis in response to demand from investors for data on sub-sovereign and regional risk,” 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. Since extensive built infrastructure generally overlaps with high levels of economic activity and capital value it is imperative that the physical risk of climate change is appropriately understood and priced,” he said.
“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 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,” he added.