(Reuters) – A group of health experts has warned that heat-related illnesses and deaths are on the rise as global temperatures increase. They forecast a 370% increase in yearly heat deaths by mid-century if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The report, which was published in the Lancet medical journal, found that at roughly 1.1C (2F) of warming, people experienced about 86 days of health-threatening high temperatures on average in 2022.
The study also revealed that people over 65 have been the most vulnerable to soaring temperatures, with deaths in this age group attributed to rising temperatures increasing by 47% in the past decade compared with the period from 1991 to 2000. These findings raise concerns over the health impacts posed by heat, as they were assembled by more than 100 experts from 52 different research institutions and United Nations agencies including the World Health Organization.
Earlier this year, a study indicated that some 61,000 people likely died during European heatwaves in the summer of 2022. The executive director of the report, Marina Romanello, expressed concern over the lack of action on climate change, stating, “We are paying in lives.”
The Lancet report, the eighth of its kind to assess how climate change is affecting health outcomes globally, also found that heat exposure may have led to 490 billion lost labour hours in 2022, up nearly 42% from the 1991 to 2000 period. Additionally, more frequent heatwaves could cause food insecurity for an additional 525 million people by mid-century.
The United Nations’ annual climate change conference, COP28, in Dubai later this month will focus in part on health impacts for the first time. At the conference, 46 million health professionals have called on the COP28 presidency to push for a phaseout of fossil fuels.
(Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; editing by Mark Heinrich)
