Sustainable Switch-Mayotte’s deadly cyclone

Sasol

17/12/2024 13:02

Dec 17 - 
  
By Sharon Kimathi
Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,
Today’s Sustainable Switch – one of the last of the year –
focuses on the aftermath of a deadly cyclone that has killed
hundreds of people in Mayotte, an archipelago off East Africa.
Several hundred people and possibly even thousands were killed
when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the
French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local
French official said.
"I think there will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will
reach a thousand, even several thousands," prefect
Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on local media channel Mayotte La
1ere.
Authorities in Mayotte were racing to get food and water to
residents stricken by the weekend's devastating cyclone and
fighting to stop hunger and disease spreading, officials said.

Context about Mayotte
Geographically, Mayotte is in the northern part of the
Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of
southeastern Africa, between northwestern Madagascar and
northeastern Mozambique.
Mayotte was initially inhabited by Bantu-speaking people from
East Africa. In the 15th century, Arab seafarers arrived,
introducing Islam and establishing the Maore Sultanate around
1500.
The island experienced various periods of control in the early
19th century, and in June 1843 Mayotte was ceded to France,
becoming a French overseas territory. 
Despite movements for independence in France's colonial African
territories during the 1960s-70s, Mayotte chose to remain part
of France. It even reaffirmed its position about France during a
March 2009 referendum and became an outermost region of the
European Union on Jan. 1, 2014.
Unlike Mayotte, the nearby Comoros islands declared independence
from France in 1975.
The disaster from the cyclone is the first challenge faced by
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, days after he was named by
France’s President Emmanuel Macron following the collapse of the
previous government.

Context about Cyclone Chido
"Everyone understands that this was a cyclone that was
unexpectedly violent," Bayrou said.
Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight, Meteo-France said, damaging
housing, government buildings and a hospital. It was the
strongest storm in more than 90 years to hit the islands, the
forecaster said.
Ahead of the storm, authorities had put the archipelago on high
alert and warned residents to stay indoors, with gusts of wind
blowing up to about 200 kph (124 mph).
Emergency workers searched for survivors and battled to restore
services on Monday. With many areas still inaccessible and some
victims buried before their deaths could be officially counted,
it could take days to determine the full extent of the
destruction.
So far, 22 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries have been
confirmed, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, the mayor of the capital
Mamoudzou, told Radio France Internationale on Tuesday morning.
After hitting Mayotte, Chido made landfall in north Mozambique,
killing at least 34 people, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA
said on Tuesday, citing figures from the southern African
country's disaster agency.

Context about extreme weather in 2024
It is not lost on me that this year’s newsletter has featured a
lot of lethal extreme weather events. The first story of the
year was about the devastating earthquake that hit Japan which
killed at least 168 people on New Year's Day.
Since then, it’s been a series of sharing our reportage on
historic extreme weather catastrophes. There have been fatal
hurricanes hitting the Americas and the Caribbean this year with
Hurricane Beryl in July, Hurricane Helene in September and
Hurricane Milton in October.
People in eastern Spain dealt with catastrophic floods in
October, while November saw an unprecedented sequence of six
tropical cyclones around the Philippines.
Though scientists are cautious when it comes to attributing
individual weather events to climate change, the consensus is
that warmer oceans are intensifying rainfall and wind speeds
across the globe.
If temperatures rise to 2.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial
levels, those same storm conditions seen in the Philippines
would be 40% more likely compared to now, said Ben Clarke, a
weather researcher at Imperial College London. Click here for
the Reuters summary of the report on climate change making the
Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms
It also comes at a pivotal time for developing nations and small
island states who are waiting for the International Court of
Justice to issue an opinion on countries' legal obligation to
fight climate change and whether large states contributing most
to greenhouse-gas emissions should be liable for damage caused
to small island nations.

Talking Points
    * DRC v Apple lawsuit: The Democratic Republic of Congo has
filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France
and Belgium, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals
in its supply chain, lawyers for the Congolese government told
Reuters. Click here for the full Reuters exclusive article.
    * Trump ESG watch: Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s
transition team is recommending sweeping changes to cut off
support for electric vehicles and charging stations and to
strengthen measures blocking cars, components and battery
materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.
    * Activist killed: The family of a 26-year-old American
human rights activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, pleaded with Secretary
of State Antony Blinken for a U.S. probe into her killing but
got no promises, Eygi's husband said. Eygi was shot dead on
Sept. 6 in the occupied West Bank after she took part in a
protest march in the town of Beita against Israeli settlement
expansion in the West Bank.
    * Russia oil spill: Spilled oil has washed up along "tens of
kilometres" of the Russian Black Sea coast after two tankers
were badly damaged in a storm at the weekend, said Veniamin
Kondratyev, the governor of Russia's southern Krasnodar region
on his Telegram channel.
    * India air quality: India has tightened restrictions aimed
at helping the public cope with pollution twice in 24 hours for
New Delhi and its surrounding regions after a deterioration in
air quality.
    * South Africa air quality: In keeping with the topic of air
pollution, a South African township known as Sasolburg –  due to
its proximity to Sasol's oldest coal-to-liquid refinery – has
been identified by government officials as one of several areas
in the nation that is in urgent need of cutting harmful air
pollution from burning coal. 

In Conversation
It’s been a year since Kevin Jordan’s home in Norfolk, United
Kingdom, was demolished after coastal erosion. Here, Jordan
shares his reflections on extreme weather and climate
adaptation:   
“As the anniversary of my home being lost to coastal erosion
approaches, it is heart-breaking to see more homes on the Hemsby
coastline under threat.   
“Climate change is fuelling this crisis. When I bought my home
15 years ago, I was advised it would be safe for decades to
come.    
“The government’s climate adaptation plan is seriously
inadequate and unless it is massively improved, communities
across the country will be at risk from our rapidly changing
weather.    
“I hope this appeal succeeds and forces the government to give
better protection to the hundreds of thousands of homes in
England currently at risk of coastal flooding and erosion.”  

ESG Lens
Adani scandal: The saga over billionaire Gautam Adani’s U.S.
indictment for alleged bribery continues as an Indian government
agency charged with promoting renewable energy has now changed
the way it issues power tenders to reduce the risk of
corruption, said an official with direct knowledge of the
matter.
    Click here for a Reuters scoop on the Solar Energy
Corporation of India’s (SECI) deal with Adani Green, the
renewables unit of the billionaire's Adani Group conglomerate.

Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Mark Potter
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