Australia Feels the Heat

Australians may have elected a climate change denier, Tony Abbott, as their prime minister but that's not going to make their climate change problems go away.   The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation, better known as HSBC, has released a report that concludes Australia is rapidly moving up the ranks of G20 countries vulnerable to global warming.

Australia’s exposure to climate change has worsened more rapidly than in any other major economy in the past two years, with stresses on water supplies increasing and the cost of natural disasters running second only to China, a report has found.

Deterioration in water resources is also a major issue, with Australia, along with Saudi Arabia, experiencing the worst increases.

HSBC concluded that India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil are the countries most vulnerable to climate change, based on the challenges posed by climate change and their ability to respond to them.

However, Australia’s position appears to be worsening, with the country now placed as the fifth worst in the G20 for climate change exposure, down five places from HSBC’s last climate report in 2011. This separate ranking is based on a country’s exposure to temperature increases, water stresses and extreme events.

Australia’s water resources per capita have dropped 6.8 per cent in the past two years, according to the report.

Oh well, burn baby, burn, and pass the Foster's.  

Update:

Melbourne was hit by fierce winds overnight.  Gust up to 140 kms./hr. ripped roofs straight off homes like this one.

Meanwhile the people of New South Wales have been warned to prepare for the arrival of more heavy windstorms.