Climate disasters may double without emissions cut: ADB

Climate disasters may double in the next two decades unless the world cuts its carbon dioxide emissions, the Asian Development Bank said yesterday, with "high risk" nations in Asia set to be hard hit.

Two days before a world climate summit opens in Paris, the Manila-based lender said deadlier storms, floods and heat waves were linked to rising global temperatures, adding to a growing chorus on the catastrophic effects of climate change.

The report, which looked at disasters from 1970 to 2013, said if carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere continued to rise at an annual rate of two parts per million, the frequency of climate disasters could double in 17 years.

This meant the average country could experience 1.55 climate disasters per year, compared to the current average of 0.775, the study added.

Meanwhile, a study said Thursday that pledges made in the lead-up to next week's major Paris climate change conference could limit severe warming, but only if countries turn their words into long-term action.

"If countries implement their INDCs through 2030 and ramp up efforts beyond 2030, we'll have a much better chance of avoiding extreme warming and keeping temperature change below two-degrees Celsius," said Gokul Iyer.

Iyer was the lead scientist of the study, which was published in the journal Science.

"It's important to know that the INDCs are a stepping stone to what we can do in the future," added Iyer, of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a collaboration between the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland.

Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit group, said the Paris meeting was a mixed bag.

"This is the first time since climate negotiations started two decades ago that virtually all the world's nations have committed to being part of the solution," he said.