Climate crisis has urgency of horror film: Prabhu on Europe, China floods

WATCHING THE devastating flooding of Western Europe and China over the past week has been like watching a horror movie, said former industries minister and Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Prabhu on Thursday.

“Today’s climate crisis has the urgency of a horror film. Western Europe has seen the worst floods in centuries as well as China with its ultra-modern infrastructure, which has also been submerged. In a situation like this, we must realise that nobody is safe and that it is no longer acceptable to say that climate change is somebody else’s problem,” he said.

Prabhu was the keynote speaker at a climate webinar jointly organised by Development Alternatives, the Club of Rome, Indian National Association and Balipara Foundation.

“When we were struck by the pandemic two years ago, the country from where it originated may have felt that it is a local problem, but it swept swiftly across the world. Even then, a pandemic can still be locally controlled. But not climate change because all ecosystems are interlinked,’’ he said, adding that the world has already lost much of its biodiversity, while a large section faces extinction.

Calling on both governments as well as civil society to act on climate change with urgency, Prabhu also said it was time for corporates to step up action. “All businesses have been facing the brunt of climate change, and this is likely to worsen… Corporates also have a responsibility for being big emitters of green house gases. We need to conceptualise strategies, technology, entrepreneurship and new models to control GHGs and change the energy mix as well,’’ he said.