Humanity, victim of an “extreme heat epidemic” that it has caused, must rise to this challenge, pleaded the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Thursday, calling for concrete measures to be taken to save lives.
According to the European Copernicus network, July 21, 22 and 23, 2024 were the three hottest days ever recorded worldwide, with the 22nd holding the absolute record with an average temperature of 17.16 °C according to updated data.
“But let’s face it: extreme temperatures are no longer a one-day, one-week, or one-month phenomenon. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it is that we are getting hotter,” Guterres said as he presented his “Call to Act on Extreme Heat.”
“Billions of people are facing an epidemic of extreme heat, baking in increasingly deadly heatwaves, with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius,” he added, recalling the deaths of more than 1,000 pilgrims during the hajj in Saudi Arabia in June.
So “the world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.”
While 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 could set a new record, temperatures well above 40°C are becoming more common.
In one year, the 50°C threshold has even been exceeded in at least 10 places, from Death Valley in the United States (53.9°C on July 7, 2024) to Agadir in Morocco, via China and India.
And this intense heat, often less visible than other devastating impacts of climate change such as storms or floods, is nevertheless more deadly.
This “invisible killer” is thus responsible for around 489,000 deaths per year between 2000 and 2019, compared to 16,000 deaths per year for cyclones, according to the “call to action” published Thursday by Antonio Guterres.
Crippling temperatures that also have economic impacts.
More than 70% of workers were exposed to excessive heat in 2020, an 8.8% increase since 2000, according to a report from the International Labour Organization released Thursday.
And with worker productivity declining in the heat (by 50% at 34°C), the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs could be lost by 2030, according to the UN.
“Burning down our only home”
But “the good news is that we can save lives and limit the impacts,” insisted Antonio Guterres.
First of all, he calls for protecting “the most vulnerable”, the youngest, the oldest, but also the poorest and the inhabitants of urban centres who are even more stuck in the concrete.
In this context, early warning systems should include extreme heat, warning populations of the arrival of heatwaves and informing them of the precautions to take.
And we need to rethink air conditioning systems, which the poorest often do not have access to.
If current trends continue, by 2050, cooling equipment (refrigeration, air conditioning) is expected to nearly triple. So the Secretary-General recommends investing in a “triple strategy” including passive cooling (using nature, architectural design, smart buildings, instead of conventional air conditioning), improving the energy efficiency of buildings and cooling facilities, and abandoning refrigerant gases that contribute to global warming.
It also calls for better protection of workers, in all sectors and regions, following an approach based on human rights. It thus advocates for their right to withdraw in the event of temperatures that are too dangerous.
And “let’s not forget that there are many other devastating symptoms of the climate crisis: more violent hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels and the list goes on.”
“To fight these symptoms, we must fight the disease,” insisted Antonio Guterres, who continues to call for more to be done in the hope of limiting global warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
“The disease is the madness of burning our only home. The madness is addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction.”
So governments “must act as if our future depends on it – because it does,” he argued.