Rising global temperatures are making the planet increasing unhabitable with rising heat and humidity, according to a new analysis.
The report published by Future Earth, the Earth League and the World Climate Research Programme warns some regions, particularly in the Global South, are more exposed to extreme heat and humidity than others.
The analysis adds higher average temperatures can lead to heat-related illnesses such as strokes, severe headaches and mental disorders.
It adds recent studies have emphasised how the physical ability to tolerate heat is lower as humidity increases.
“This implies that a far wider range of regions will be exposed to heat stress than what was previously expected,” the report states.
“Besides the direct impacts on human health, increased heat exposure also reduces habitability through disruptions to agriculture.”
The report argues heat action plans and early warning systems will become increasingly important across most regions.
And protecting vulnerable groups, outdoor workers, pregnant woman and the elderly will require specific measures.
The study also how recent reductions in air pollution in some regions have improved public health, but at the same time it has also revealed the full extent of global warming caused by historical greenhouse gas emissions.
It adds any future mitigation strategies must complex aerosol-climate interactions into account.
One of the report co-authors, Bjørn Hallvard Samset said average global temperatures have been rising by 0.2 degrees Celsius every decade since the 1970s in an interview.
But Hallvard Samset added over the last decade, temperatures have risen by 0.3 degrees Celsius.
“The core message is global warming is going as fast as before, if not faster,” he told me.
“And we are seeing that in all kinds of knock-on effects, which are expected for this level of global warming. But the question is what comes next?”
Hallvard Samset said the latest research shows that carbon emissions are starting to level off, but global warming will still continue for at least 20 or 30 years.
“Global warming has now progressed to the point where we are often seeing heat waves going above that damage threshold, with impacts on agriculture and human health,” he added.
He told me around 600 million people are now thought to live in parts of the world where the average temperature is above 29 degrees Celsiuis
And he said air pollution is influencing rising temperatures and rainfall, which will lead to more extreme weather events.
“We’re really seeing that climate adaptation is getting really expensive, even a small city in a really rich country,” he said.
“When you go to major cities, you now see an extreme increase in exposure to almost unliveable temperatures, and where millions of people have no access to air conditioning.”
Dima Zogheib, nature positive design expert at Arup, said rising global temperatures have a huge global impact on health, economies, and critical infrastructure in an email.
“We’ve pushed out nature, concreted our streets and built high in steel and glass, creating urban heat islands where temperatures are far higher than their rural surroundings,” added Zogheib.
“This affects neighbourhoods unevenly, with vulnerable populations at a greater risk,” she told me.
“Cities need chief heat officers, who can galvanise action to protect the most at-risk populations. And rising heat must be addressed at scale – including by reducing carbon emissions.”
