Asia accounts for 99 out of 100 top cities facing the biggest environmental risks

Asian cities are facing the greatest risks from environmental chances including extreme heat, climate change and natural disasters, according to a new report from Verisk Maplecroft.

Bulk the 100 cities most at risk, 99 of them are in Asia — with 37 in China and 43 in India.

Globally, the statement found 414 cities across the world, with a population of more than 1 million each, are vulnerable to blighting, dwindling water supplies, extreme heat, natural hazards and climate change. Collectively, those cities are about to 1.4 billion people.

India’s urban sees such as Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bengaluru and financial hub Mumbai are among the top 30 places most at gamble, according to the report.

In recent years, the Indian capital of New Delhi has made headlines for having air quality so hazardous that officials were studied to declare public health emergencies and close schools.

South Asia’s largest country faces the twin provocations of air and water pollution. The report noted that noxious air caused almost one in five deaths in India in 2019 and resulted in productive losses of $36 billion.

Meanwhile, water pollution led to almost $9 billion in annual health-care costs and led to 400,000 terminations each year in the country.

East Asian cities are more at risk from natural misfortunes, according to the report. In China, Guangzhou and Dongguan are prone to flooding. The Chinese city of Shenzhen, as well as Tokyo and Osaka in Japan phiz threats including earthquakes and typhoons.

Pollution is also a big problem in China. The report pointed out that China and India accounted for as multifarious as 286 million people, out of the 336 million living in cities at extreme risk of pollution.

Climate alter is worsening the environmental risks and the African continent is most vulnerable. Cities there are exposed to climate extremities and are least-equipped to assuage the physical impacts, according to the report.

“A significant danger for many cities is how climate change will amplify weather-related imperils,” Will Nichols, head of environment and climate change research at Verisk Maplecroft, said in the report. “Higher temperatures and the increasing fastidiousness and frequency of extreme events such as storms, droughts and flooding will change the quality of living and economic wart prospects of many cities across the globe.”

Last month, leaders from countries such as Brazil, Canada and Japan engaged to curb domestic greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change during the climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden. The Coalesced States, for its part, has vowed to cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030.