Sydney Essay

Theme

The city chosen for this particular essay is Sydney. Sydney is the capital city of New South Wales in Australia. It has an approximate population of 5.3 million people as of 2019. The main theme of this essay would be around climate change (McAdam, 2012). Climate change refers to change in the climatic conditions globally or in specific regions around the world. It includes global warming which is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting pollution which can be toxic and lead to changes in the weather conditions of some places around the world (Mi et.al, 2019). The changes in weather conditions that occur do not happen immediately but instead take quite some time to actually become evident (Mi et.al 2019). But the impact of climate change is drastic and over time it causes other problems. Some of the problems that occur because of climate change include increased average daily temperatures. This leads to higher level of heat in the atmosphere because of which then leads to severe consequences such as droughts (Mi et.al, 2019). Sydney is one of the famous harbors in Australia, which faces the South Pacific Ocean, while on its east, lies the hot and dry landscapes, which are expected to become more boiling in the summers (Cadogan, 2012). Another major effect of climate change because of increased heat is wildfires. Therefore, the topic for the essay would be “The impact of climate changes on the metropolitan city of Sydney”. 

Topic

The topic includes the basics of climate change and its impact. It would also cover how different areas of Sydney, has been affected by climate change and how the city plans to overcome it. Some of the effects that climate change has on Sydney include an increase of 0.9 degrees centigrade in the average air temperature in the city of Sydney as compared to that in 1910 (Dean and Green 2018). There is also an increase in the number of days when the weather is hot and a decrease in the number of days when the weather is cold. There has also been an increase in the occurrence of bushfires in and around Sydney because of an increase in the weather that causes the bushfires to occur (El-Zein and Tonmoy, 2015). Another effect that climate change has had on Sydney is the increase in the sea level by the rate of 3.2 mm per year in the past 20 years (Saintilan et.al, 2019). It is expected that if no action is taken against stopping or reducing climate change, the temperatures and sea levels in and around Sydney may go up even further. This would be further worsened by the increase in levels of pollution in the city of Sydney (Argüeso et.al, 2014). Furthermore, the essay describes impact of climate changes on people and businesses and how the government and people are seeking its solutions.

Argument

Sydney is known to be one of the largest and rapidly growing cities of Australia. the climatical changes of this city has its impact on multiple variables. The impact is on physical conditions, social conditions, health conditions and business conditions (Connor, 2016). Similar to many Australian Cities, Sydney experiences problems like increase sea level, high temperatures, more frequent severe climate conditions, inconsistent rainfalls etc. Ultimately, these climate-related changes will affect the flooding bushfires, droughts, urban and rural hat waves, coastal storms,  water quality, biodiversity and public health of the inhabitants (Cadogan, 2012). According to, (Dean and Green, 2018), the air quality of Sydney, is said to be pure and better as compared to other commercial cities. the past studies suggest that climatical changes have a direct impact on  air quality and human well-being. The climate changes are dependent on numerous factors, out of which the major contributor is known to be burning of fossil fuels, which create a greenhouse impact in the air. this effect than increases the level of heat and causes warming issues (Environmental Action, 2021). According to (Lee Lewis, Shankie-Williams and Mitchell, 2013), the climatical projections were analyzed in order to gauge the effect of climate changes on multiple bio-physical variables, like, water, fire, heat, air quality and coastal areas. While the climate adaptation program has identified heat, to be the major climatical threat to Sydneysiders, almost 33 Sydney councils have been funding the climate adaptation program, since 2019  (Purtil, 2021). 

Furthermore, there are two risks associated with the climate changes, including physical risk and transitional risk. The physical risks are linked to climate itself, which may include severe risks like floods, storms and cyclones etc. While there is a transitional risk, which effects the business models, by changing strategies and technologies in times of climatical changes. For example, some firms pay carbon tax, while some companies are liable to law, as they cause release of different gasses, which might impact the environment and cause changes in the climate (Hussein and Langbein, 2018). 

Method

The method used to support this research, will be secondary, which will include articles, past studies, newspapers, authority reports and other researches conducted on the topic of climate change in Sydney. Most of this research would focus on the climatical impacts on the residents, businesses etc. and how these climate change can be avoided and reduced. According to (Lee at al., 2013), Sydney Integrated Regional Vulnerability Assessment (IRVA) Workshops were conducted, in order to understand the primary and secondary impact of climate on different parameters in Sydney. Not only this, a study used research forecasting method, water demand method and a global climate change model to understand the link between population and changes in climate and the water demand in Sydney. The study aimed to analyzed present, near future and far future, and presented its forecasted results. Furthermore, a study analyzed almost 152 past studies between the years 2007 to 2017, to realize the impact of climate changes on different other variables. The study analyzed the effect of climate on air quality in different aspects. firstly, it used a statistical tool, i.e., correlation to see the association between the two variables (Dean and Green, 2018). While another study, (Physick, Cope and Lee, 2014) conducted a research, using century climate change driven by local and regional circulation models (CTM-RCM model) especially for Sydney. The results revealed that the climate changes do affect the ozone layer (O3) directly and indirectly causes health of the people in Sydney. Also, it was revealed by a projection that Western Sydney is more exposed to climate changes, as it does not get enough cool sea breezes, which moderates the eastern part of the city. Also, the climate records of Western and coastal Sydney, have presented that the temperature has increased almost the double the rate, due to global warming (Cadogan, 2012).

Examples to survive and solve climate issues

According to, (Purtil, 2021), heat kills more people in Australia, as compare to other climatical disasters, like, bushfire, cyclones and floods. In January 2021, there was a huge heat wave in many parts of Victoria and NSW, including Sydney, that made people to go out to beaches, but the heat was so much that residents couldn’t even make it to the beaches, therefore, heatwaves are showing up as one of the  most observed climatical threats to Australian people. The head of the Resilience Sydney program, Beck Dawson, said that the cities are not well-equipped to cater these extreme heat conditions and help the people to survive.

Due to high rate of temperature, people in Sydney are suffering and many cannot even afford to run air-conditioners 24/7. Therefore, these people try to take heat refuges, which can be any cool place, with a good cooling system and accommodations for the society, where they can go on an extremely hot day to relax and feel comfortable for at least some hours (Amin, 2021). Not only this, this idea has been adopted by random citizens and they try to find some public place to spend most of their time there and take refuge for some time. Also, some of the places have been allotted for heat refuge. For example, Ian Epodulan, a 31 years old person living in West Sydney shared his experience, that they do have an air-conditioner, but due to high cost of running it, he and his family chooses to drive to an ai-conditioned shopping center in Blacktown, to take refuge for some hours (Amin, 2021).

Due to importance of climate changes, the business sectors also need to take it into account. Initially it started with public sector bodies, like water, energy and coastal zone related companies. Later, UN also enforced private sector to take initiatives on climate changes. Therefore, now many business individuals and companies release statements about adapting the climate changes, in order to protect their company’s reputation and economic growth. Also, to support the CSR issues (Linnenluecke, Griffiths, and Mumby, 2015). Since 2017, public listed companies are required to disclose any climate changes, that may arise from their business, as FSB released a report, according to which climate changes is a material risk, which should be disclosed and discussed in the annual reports of the company. Also, the commonwealth scientific and industrial research organization presented a report, which projected that by 2050, Sydney will get even more hotter, during each season, with major warming effects in winter and summer both (Cadogan, 2012). 

Conclusion and Implications

The essay focusses on the impact of climate changes on the city of Sydney. the research revealed that Western part of the city is more exposed to climate changes  and experiences more high temperatures, due to the global warming issues and sea breeze does not reach the Western Sydney. These extreme climate conditions have other implications, including floods, heat waves, scarce or heavy rain falls, dry weather, cyclone etc. Similarly, these climate changes have their affects on the people living in the area. The research concluded that heat wave is one of the major causes of mostly deaths in Sydney, as compared to other climatical implications. Therefore, government and people are trying to find suitable ways to get protected from heat waves in the area. Lastly climatical changes have its impact on businesses also. Lastly, business industry is also affected by the climate changes and in 2017, climate risk was said to material risks, therefore, public listed companies are legally obliged to disclose any activities, which can cause climate changes, also, all sectors, public and private need to disclose their climate adaptation policies in Australia.