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The Baku Climate Action Week ahead of COP29 focused on how extreme weather due to the climate crisis is disrupting supply chains.
Extreme weather is threatening the world’s food supply, according to experts at Baku’s climate summit ahead of COP29 in November.
Speakers at the Baku Climate Action Week (BCAW) emphasised the importance of ports as a lifeline. Around 80% of global trade volume is handled by ports, yet many are exposed to operational disruptions from extreme weather events, causing costly downtime.
Hurricanes and rising sea levels are disrupting the ability of ports to operate, stopping the flow of goods — from food to medical supplies — putting pressure on supply chains and harming countries’ GDPs.
Researchers estimate that €73 billion of global trade is at risk every year.
A non-profit organisation focused on ports says it’s publishing a report for COP29 climate summit in November to show how some ports deal with climate change, hoping to inspire other countries to prepare for the worst.
“There are 17, 000 ports around the world and 30 million individuals work directly within them, so it’s not just imports and exports, people’s livelihoods are dependent on ports,” said Darshana Godaliyadde, director of the Resilience 4 Ports Initiative.