Climate change threatens Asia’s water and power systems, reports warn

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Climate change is battering Asia’s water and power systems and putting millions in harm’s way, forcing countries to pour billions into shoring up basic services, according to two recent reports.

Water-related disasters are rising across the region even as spending to protect communities falls short. Asian nations will need $4 trillion for water and sanitation between 2025 and 2040 — about $250 billion a year, the Asian Development Bank said in a report released Monday.

Governments are under growing pressure to protect power systems people rely on every day. By 2050, extreme weather could leave listed power companies in Asia-Pacific with about $8.4 billion a year in damage and lost revenue, a third higher than now, according to recent research by the Hong Kong-based non-profit Asia Investor Group on Climate Change and the New York-based MSCI Institute, a sustainability think tank.

Those risks have been playing out this year across Asia as it was pummeled by late-arriving storms, relentless rains and severe floods.

In central Vietnam’s Quy Nhon, power lines snapped when Typhoon Kalmaegi blasted the coastal city with heavy rain and strong winds. Floods from the relentless downpours left streets submerged under chest-high water days later, turning entire neighborhoods into islands. The day after the storm made landfall, Hai Duong, 29, rushed to a mall that still had power to charge her phone.

“I can’t go back because my home is underwater. I just want to see if my relatives are safe,” she said.

The ADB report says 2.7 billion people, about 60% of the Asia-Pacific population, have access to water for most of their basic needs but more than 4 billion still remain exposed to unsafe water, degraded ecosystems and escalating climate hazards.

Much of the progress since 2013 comes from major gains in rural water access, it says. About 800 million more people in rural areas now have piped water, helping many countries move out of the lowest level of water security. India played a big part in this shift.

But Asia faces a triple threat: environmental pressures, low investment and climate change, said Vivek Raman, principal urban development specialist at the ADB and a lead author of the report.

“It’s a tale of two realities,” Raman said.

The report says water ecosystems were rapidly deteriorating or stagnating in 30 of the 50 Asian countries that were studied, plagued by unchecked development, pollution and land being converted to other uses. Asia also accounts for 41% of global flooding and its coastal megacities and Pacific islands face mounting threats from storm surges, rising sea levels and salty water pushing inland. From 2013 to 2023, Asia and the Pacific experienced 244 major floods, 104 droughts, and 101 severe storms — events that undermined development gains and caused widespread damage.

Governments currently meet only 40% of the estimated $4 trillion in investment, or roughly $250 billion annually, in funding needed for water and sanitation from 2025-2040. That leaves an annual shortfall of over $150 billion.

Asia’s rapid growth is both an opportunity and a challenge said Amit Prothi, director general of New Delhi-based Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, who was not involved with the report. “The amount of infrastructure we’ll build in Asia in the next three decades will be as much as what was built in the last two centuries. So, this is an opportunity to rethink and build in a new way,” he said.

The coalition found that $800 billion in infrastructure, about a third of it in Asia, is exposed to disasters each year globally.

Extreme heat, floods and water shortages are already costing Asia’s power utilities $6.3 billion annually, a figure projected to exceed $8.4 billion by 2050 if companies fail to strengthen climate adaptation measures, research by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change and the MSCI Institute shows.

Asia accounts for 60% of the world’s power generation capacity and remains deeply reliant on coal. The report warns that climate changes threatens both energy security and economic growth across a region where over 4 billion people need reliable electricity.

“Overall, if you were looking at the types of impacts and the preparedness of companies, most companies are at very early stages,” said Anjali Viswamohanan, director of policy at the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change.

Its study of 2,422 power plants across China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea found extreme heat to be the costliest hazard, responsible for over half of all losses by 2050. Heatwaves reduce power plant efficiency and strain transmission networks. India’s main power utility NTPC, Indonesia’s PLN, and Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional all face a high risk of disruptions caused by rising heat.

Another major threat comes from declining river flows in Asia’s major basins, which supply the water needed by coal and gas plants and fuel hydropower dams.

At the same time, heavy rainfall and flooding also pose risks, especially in coastal and riverine regions. Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional faces some of the highest coastal flood exposure due to power plants built in low-lying areas, the report said.

Despite mounting hazards, most utilities lacked detailed, funded plans for adapting to climate impacts. The report found that while nine companies of the 11 studied assessed how climate change impacts them, only seven examined risks at individual plants. Just five calculated and disclosed how future climate impacts could raise costs or hurt their earnings.

Rapidly shifting climate risks make it hard to predict the costs and insurance needed to protect energy infrastructure, said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist affiliated with the University of Graz, who wasn't involved in either report.

Financing gaps in the power sector may be easier to close than those in water and sanitation, since energy projects can attract strong industry interest and investment, he said. But some countries daunted by demands from international investors for environmental safeguards might turn to regional financiers that are less scrupulous about such concerns.

“For energy infrastructure, I see more hope that the financing gap can be closed,” he said. “But that can also come at a cost.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - Cars and houses are submerged in floodwaters in Songkhla province, southern Thailand, on Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool, File)

Survivors walk at an area affected by flash flood in Aceh Tamiang, on Sumatra Island, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

A survivor carries relief goods at an area devastated by flash flooding in Aceh Tamiang on Sumatra Island, Indonesia, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

FILE - A woman stands inside her flooded house in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah, File)

FILE -Flood victims wade through a submerged area of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but U.S. President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” — the latest setback to efforts to resolve the standoff in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring.

Iranian state media reported that Tehran rejected the U.S. proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the U.S., full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of seized Iranian assets.”

Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump's rejection of the Iranian response included no details. In an earlier post, he accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: "They will be laughing no longer!"

Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region." The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center gave no details about the ship's owner or origin.

Kuwait Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from.

Iran and armed allied groups such as the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.

Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that's key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.

The U.S. military in turn has blockaded Iranian ports since April 13, saying it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. On Friday, it struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.

Another sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons grade.

In an interview posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said forces were on “full readiness” to protect sites where uranium is stored.

“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an excerpt of an interview with CBS airing Sunday said the war isn't over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.

Iran's deputy foreign minister warned against a planned French-British effort that aims to support maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz after hostilities are over.

“The presence of French and British vessels, or those of any other country, for any possible cooperation with illegal U.S. actions in the Strait of Hormuz that violate international law will be met with a decisive and immediate response from the armed forces,” Kazem Gharibabadi said on social media.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded by saying it won't be a military deployment but an international mission to secure shipping once conditions allow.

Several attacks against ships in the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was quickly paused.

South Korea announced initial findings from an investigation that said two unidentified objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored in the strait last week, causing an explosion and fire. Officials have yet to determine who was responsible.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Women walk in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A Revolutionary Guard soldier stands at the counter of a fast food restaurant in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The front page of the Sunday May 10, 2026, edition of Iranian newspaper, Jamejam, is seen with a cartoon satirizing the U.S. President Donald Trump that asks: "Open the the Strait of Hormuz" on a news stand in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles drive past banners showing portraits of the school children who were killed during a strike on a school in southern town of Minab on Feb. 28, at Tajrish square in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU is docked after being damaged from a fire following an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz, at a port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Kim Sang-hun/Yonhap via AP)

Container ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, May 2, 2026.(Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)