Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your UPSC current affairs knowledge nugget on Greemwatch’s Climate Risk Index.(Relevance: Questions have been asked in the exam on important reports. Since the CRI measures the consequences of climate-related extreme weather events and provides insights for policymakers, its launch during the ongoing COP30 makes it an important index for your exam.)Why in the news?On the second day of the ongoing COP30 conference, Germanwatch, a Bonn-based non-governmental organisation, released the Climate Risk Index (CRI) report. India has been ranked 9th in the list of countries worst affected by climate-related disasters in the last 30 years, showing an improvement of one rank over the previous report published in 2023.Key takeaways:1. Published since 2006, the CRI is one of the longest-running annual climate impact-related indices. The index measures the consequences of climate-related extreme weather events’ effect on countries. It ranks countries by their economic and human impacts (fatalities, as well as total affected), with the most affected country ranked highest.2. According to the report, globally 8.32 lakh lives were lost between 1995 and 2024 due to extreme weather events, out of which India has recorded 80,000 fatalities, or nearly 9.6% of the global number.3. The report states that in the past three decades as many as 430 extreme weather events like droughts, cyclones, heatwaves, and floods were reported in various parts of India, accounting for losses worth 170 billion USD.4. “The country (India) has faced various extreme weather events including floods, heat waves, cyclones and drought. Floods and landslides resulting from heavy monsoons have displaced millions and have damaged agriculture, and cyclones have devastated coastal areas underscoring India’s diverse climate risks,” the report states.Story continues below this ad A hand-held rickshaw puller wades through a waterlogged road during rain, in Kolkata. (PTI Photo)5. “Notable events with high fatalities and/or economic losses include the 1998 Gujarat and 1999 Odisha cyclones, cyclones – Hudhud and Amphan in 2014 and 2020, the 1993 floods in Northern India, the Uttarakhand floods in 2013 and severe floods in 2019. Recurring and unusually intense heatwaves all with temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, claimed many lives in 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2015,” the report stated.What is climate change?According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), “Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.”The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) distinguishes between climate change caused by human activities that modify atmospheric composition and climate variability that arises from natural factors.6. All countries are affected by climate-related disasters, but those in the Global South are particularly impacted. The poorer Global South countries are distinctively affected by extreme weather events. In 2024, eight of the 10 most affected were in the low-income and lower-middle-income group.7. The capacity to cope is substantially lower in these countries. Between 1995 and 2024, six of the 10 most affected were lower-middle-income which include India. Notably, none of the 10 most affected over the previous 30 years were in the high-income group, and only one for 2024.Story continues below this ad8. Human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events happen more often and become more severe. In the beginning of 2024, El Nino influenced many extreme events. However, scientists found that climate change made them even worse. In 2024, human-caused climate change added 41 days of dangerous heat, impacting particularly vulnerable populations and driving other extreme weather events, such as intensified hurricanes and wildfires.India’s Initiatives at Disaster Resilience InfrastructureIn 2019, on India’s initiative, a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), an international organisation, was set up.It is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.According to CDRI estimates, every one dollar invested in making infrastructure more resilient in low- and middle-income countries can potentially save losses of over $4 when a disaster strikes.One of the major initiatives under CDRI is Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in 2021. Small island states are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As sea levels rise, they face a threat of being wiped off the map. According to CDRI, several small island states have lost 9 per cent of their GDPs in single disasters during the last few years.Story continues below this ad The Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund (IRAF) was announced by CDRI at COP27 in Egypt in 2022. It is established with the support of UNDP and UNDRR to support global action on disaster resilience of infrastructure systems, especially in developing countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).BEYOND THE NUGGET: WMO’s State of the Climate Update for COP301. The ongoing 30th edition of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30), the annual two-week climate talks, is being held in Belem, Brazil. At the Leaders’ Summit of the UN Climate Change Conference, the World Meteorological Organization released the State of the Global Climate Update for COP30.2. It highlights key climate indicators and their relevance to support policymaking and is a bridge to more detailed but less frequent scientific reports.3. According to the WMO, 2025 is most likely to be among the top three warmest years ever recorded, following the near-surface temperature recorded between January and August this year, which was 1.42 degree Celsius (a deviation of 0.12 degree Celsius) above the pre-industrial era.Story continues below this ad4. The WMO stated that the concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and ocean heat content in 2025 continued the rising trend observed last year. The report also stated that the period between 2015 and 2025 would have individually been the 11 warmest years in the 176-year observational record.Post Read QuestionThe Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) was launched by which of the following international organisations?(a) World Meteorological Organisation(b) Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure(c) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(d) World BankAnswer key(b)(Sources: India 9th among countries worst hit by climate disasters in last 30 years: Report, ‘Unprecedented streak of high temperatures’: 2025 set to be among top three warmest years, says World Meteorological Organization, Climate Risk Index 2026, Knowledge Nugget: Why is Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) important for UPSC exam?)Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.Story continues below this ad Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for October 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com