September 18 - September 24, 2026
  A weekly digest on impacts, politics and science of the climate emergency from the Global South perspective. You can find this digest in the web here.  
     
Dear readers,

Welcome to the Climate Weekly Digest by the Centre for Science and Environment’s Climate Change and Green Economy Programme and Down to Earth.

The COP31 presidency has proposed a global “35-by-35” electrification goal, aiming to increase the share of final energy demand met by electricity from around 23 per cent today to 35 per cent by 2035. The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a special report prepared for input into the COP31 process, and its states the target is economically within reach, with electrification already cost-effective for about a third of global energy use. But the transition will be uneven, argue Trishant Dev, Kartikeya Garg and Avantika Goswami from CSE’s Climate Change and Green Economy team.

Developing countries, where electricity demand is expected to grow fastest, currently possess weaker grids, financially stressed utilities, limited access to affordable capital and higher technology costs. The IEA estimates that annual investment in end-use electrification will need to triple to around US $1 trillion by 2035, while grid investment may also need to double.

The challenges are particularly significant across Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. For these regions, achieving the target will require more than falling technology costs. Predictable climate finance, affordable capital, grid upgrades and targeted support for clean cooking, electric mobility and small-scale industries will be crucial to making global electrification equitable and achievable. The greatest potential for electrification, according to the report, lies in transport, buildings and industry. Particularly through electric vehicles, heat pumps and the electrification of industrial processes.

Meanwhile, a new episode of the Carbon Politics video podcast releases today, and asks the questions - How can Central Banks Aid Climate Action? Tune in to hear Sehr Raheja from the Climate Change and Green Economy Programme speak with Professor Richard Kozul-Wright, noted economist and former head of UNCTAD’s Globalisation and Development Strategies Division.
   
 
Down To Earth
 
By - Sehr Raheja
Climate Change and Green Economy, CSE
 
 
   
 
EXTREME WEATHER TRACKER
 
   
 
‘Super’ El Niño could cause 239,000 additional heat deaths by February 2027; India may see 15,800: Report, 24 September 2026
Down To Earth
 
   
 
Down To Earth 2025 fourth consecutive year with net loss in global glacial mass, 21 September 2026
 
   
 
COMMENTARIES
Warming Himalayas: Nepal’s climate justice test, 23 September 2026
Nepal’s devastating Himalayan floods have exposed the human and economic cost of a warming region, reviving demand for climate justice
 
   
  CLIMATE NEWS | SCIENCE| IMPACTS| POLITICS  
   
 
Down To Earth
Drought monitor: Monsoon withdrawal & growing drought crisis across states, 24 September 2026
Several states have fallen behind in paddy transplantation, while others have shifted from paddy to alternative crops
 
   
   
 
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More than half of India under dry or drought conditions as monsoon withdrawal begins, 23 September 2026
Area under dry or drought conditions is expanding rapidly
 
   
 
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Seven of nine planetary boundaries transgressed with worsening trends, 22 September 2026
Ozone layer recovery has slowed even as climate change is progressing faster than previously expected, shows report
 
   
 
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Climate change likely intensified Nepal’s cascading flood disaster: WWA, 21 September 2026
Scientists say warming weakened glaciers, thawed permafrost and increased slope instability, but the August 26 disaster was caused by a complex chain of climatic and geological factors
 
   
 
Down To Earth
Himalayas nearing ‘tipping point’ as glacier melting accelerates, report warns, 18 September 2026
Black carbon contributes about one-third of Himalayan glacier melt, according to the report
 
   
 
Down To Earth
Brown is beautiful: What Namibia’s capital Windhoek can teach African cities as they get hotter and drier, 18 September 2026
Nature-based solutions must move from good ideas to everyday city planning
 
   
 
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This weekly digest is published by Down to Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based global think tank advocating on global south developmment issues.
We would love your feedback on this weekly digest. To speak to our experts for quotes and comments on the above stories. Please email to vikas@cseindia.org
 
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