The current cycle of human-driven climate change is causing significant impact to our planet, especially through the rise of extreme weather events. While the world’s climate is technically always changing, it usually occurs very slowly over several hundred years in cycles of 100,000 years or so.^[1] In the last 200 years however, CO₂ levels in our atmosphere have increased by more than 40%, most of it occurring within the last 50 years!^[1] Our average global temperature has also risen by about 1.2°C, which may not seem like very much, but contributes significantly to melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, intense heatwaves, declining biodiversity^[2] and the unpredictable extreme weather we are facing globally.

Malaysia, too, has been experiencing the effects of climate change. Our average surface air temperature has risen from 25.8°C in 1901 to 26.8°C in 2023, and even though we are receiving increased rainfall of 3107mm in 2023 compared to 2703mm in 1901^[3], we are also experiencing prolonged droughts, heatwaves and disrupted monsoon seasons. While our tropical climate and geographic location means we are prone to extreme weather on a regular basis, climate change is exacerbating the situation. In April 2024, a level 1 hot weather warning was issued across 10 regions after temperatures remained above 35°C for three consecutive days.^[4] Months later in November, heavy rainfall caused flooding across nine states, displacing 40,922 families.^[5]