When it’s hot, we die
As the weather finally cools into something like autumn here in London, it’s more difficult to recall just how hazardous temperatures were across Europe this summer. A timely paper draws our attention to the number of excess deaths caused by 2022’s blistering temperatures.
The authors of Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022, drilled into the Eurostat database, which covers 543 million people in 35 European countries.
They found that more than 70,000 excess deaths occurred in Europe during the summer of 2002, with most heat-related deaths occurring in Italy, followed by Spain and Germany Spain.
The study concludes, drily, that “Our results call for a re-evaluation and strengthening of existing heat surveillance platforms, prevention plans and long-term adaptation strategies”.
For more insight, see Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022, available here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02419-z
More cooling needed…but where?
Hotter = adaptation = more air conditioning, right…? But who will need it the most? A paper from our friends at the Smith School, Oxford, helps answer this question.
“Limiting global mean temperature rise to 1.5 °C is increasingly out of reach. Here we show the impact on global cooling demand in moving from 1.5 °C to 2.0 °C of global warming. African countries have the highest increase in cooling requirements.
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Norway (traditionally unprepared for heat) will suffer the largest relative cooling demand surges. Immediate and unprecedented adaptation interventions are required worldwide to be prepared for a hotter world.”
This has important policy implications. First, each increase in global warming will affect heat exposure and cooling demand worldwide, driving the need for immediate, unprecedented adaptation.
Second, it’s in the interests of Global North and South countries to work together towards achieving the 1.5 °C target, given that they will be most affected by the absolute and relative changes.
To learn more, see Change in cooling degree days with global mean temperature rise increasing from 1.5 °C to 2.0 °C
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01155-z
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