About one billion people face crippling heat from a 2C rise in global temperatures, the UK’s Met Office predicts.
It says a 4C rise could see nearly half of the world’s population living in areas potentially affected.
Dr Andy Hartley, Climate Impacts Lead at the Met Office, says it used a 32C temperature estimate to determine the level at which people would be defined as being “at extreme risk”.
“Vulnerable members of the population and those with physical outdoor jobs are at greater risk of adverse health effects,” Hartley says.
“Currently, the metric is met in several locations, such as parts of India, but our analysis shows that with a rise of 4C, extreme heat risk could affect people in large swathes of most of the world’s continents.”
River flooding, risk of wildfire, drought, and food insecurity are also predicted in large areas should global temperatures rise.
Prof Richard Betts, who led some of the research, concludes: “The higher the level of warming, the more severe and widespread the risks to people’s lives.”
Source: BBC
