Climate Scholar Condemns Global Inaction Over Nepal Disaster

“How terrible is the reality that Nepal, which accounts for less than 0.02% of global carbon dioxide emissions, is experiencing? They are not responsible for the disaster.”

“We know the problem and we know the solution. We just need to act. If we don’t, you will continue to invite scientists like us to such broadcasts to explain the problem. As a scientist, I feel immense frustration because we have been talking about this issue for decades.”

Benjamin Horton, a British climate scholar and Dean of the School of Energy and Environment at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, expressed intense frustration with the international community’s sluggish response to recurring climate disasters such as heatwaves, heavy rains, and snowstorms during an Al Jazeera interview on the 28th, local time. Horton, who also received the Oxford Medal—the highest honor from the Asia-Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS)—in July, warned that current climate changes have pushed humanity to the brink of the planet’s capacity to sustain life, known as planetary boundaries.

Horton likened the recent Nepal glacial flood disaster to a “nuclear explosion,” stating, “If we fail to address climate change, 70–80% of glaciers will disappear within 25–50 years. They won’t melt gradually but will collapse suddenly, causing massive events in vulnerable regions like Nepal.” Responding to the host’s remark that investigations into the disaster’s cause are ongoing and that a direct causal link between global warming and the Nepal flood cannot be confirmed, Horton rebutted, “I want to be more honest about connecting this disaster to climate change.”

Horton analyzed, “We have emitted greenhouse gases from the fossil fuel industry for decades, raising global temperatures. However, temperatures in the Himalayan highlands have risen twice as fast as the global average. Over the past decade, the melting rate of Himalayan glaciers has doubled, and they have lost 12% of their surface area.”

Regarding the ongoing heatwaves in Europe and the Americas and heavy rains in Asia, he said, “Increasing greenhouse gases raise temperatures, melt ice, and trigger disasters. We must ask, ‘How likely would this event have been without human-induced climate change?’ Repeatedly, we find that the most extreme disasters—such as floods, landslides, or heatwaves—would have been nearly impossible without climate change.”

Horton repeatedly raised his voice in frustration. He pointed out that the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era (1850–1900), has become ineffective since 2024, stating, “The disasters we see in the Himalayas are a result of exceeding these limits.” He added, “While predicting when and where climate disasters will occur is complex, the relationship between increased carbon dioxide and rising temperatures is simple.”

He emphasized, “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) models developed in the 1990s are remarkably sophisticated and have predicted every single outcome. The solution is also simple: reduce dependence on carbon dioxide, protect ecosystems that absorb it, and develop and scale up technologies to remove it from the atmosphere.”

China, the United States, India, and Russia—the top four carbon dioxide-emitting countries—account for over half of global emissions. Nepal ranks 95th. U.S. President Donald Trump declared withdrawal from the Paris Agreement during his first term in 2017. Although the agreement was rejoined under the Joe Biden administration, Trump withdrew again after reclaiming the presidency in 2025. Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) faction regard climate change as a ‘fraud’ fabricated by the left-wing camp.