Climate Change, Urbanization Extreme Heat Is the Silent Killer of Climate Change: How Can Cities Beat It?
Basic Page Sidebar Menu Perry World House
August 3, 2022
By
Mateo Ledesma, Andrew Lombardi, and Mauricio Rodas | OECD Cogito
PWH Visiting Fellow Mauricio Rodas has co-authored an article for OECD on the impact of extreme heat in urban areas.
As fires rage and droughts blight communities around the world, cities have been sweating. Temperatures have reached record highs in Paris (France), London (UK), and Lisbon (Portugal), and have topped 50°C in Nawabshah (Pakistan), Phalodi (India), and Basra (Iraq).
There is agreement among experts that heatwave deaths are preventable. But extreme heat led to 1,700 “needless” deaths in Spain and Portugal during the July 2022 heatwave. A recent study of nine countries found that 356,000 deaths were linked to extreme heat in 2019. Temperature increases are also projected to reduce working hours by 2.2% and global GDP by USD 2.4 trillion by 2030, due to the dangerous working conditions caused by extreme heat.
