Of world’s 100 cities at greatest environmental risk, India has 43: Report

Asian cities face the greatest risk from environmental issues including air pollution and natural disasters, according to a report by research firm Verisk Maplecroft.

Of the 100 most vulnerable cities, 99 are in Asia, according to the report released on Thursday. Of those, 37 are in China and 43 are in India, the world’s first and third biggest emitters of greenhouse gases respectively. Globally, 1.5 billion people live in 414 cities that are at high risk from pollution, water shortages, extreme heat, natural hazards and the physical impacts of climate change.

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, topped the list of combined risk based on all nine factors analyzed by Verisk Maplecroft. India is home to 13 of the 20 riskiest cities in the world, a result of its extreme levels of air and water pollution. China’s flood-prone Guangzhou and Dongguan topped the list of cities facing threats from natural hazards, followed by Japan’s Osaka and Tokyo for being vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons. Lima is the only city outside Asia among the top 100 most at-risk cities overall.

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