Cast your eyes over the statistics in a new report I helped author on staying cool in a warming climate and the urgency becomes clear: 1 billion people, mostly in Africa and Asia, are at high risk from extreme heat because they lack access to cooling, while a further 2.9 billion only have intermittent access. As the climate crisis deepens, close to half of the world’s people have little defence against deadly heat.
Exposure to high temperatures is not just a health risk; research shows how excessive heat leads to children struggling in class, threatens women disproportionately (they often have less access to healthcare, are more likely to live in poverty and shoulder a heavier burden when it comes to domestic labour) and slashes working hours, particularly among outdoor workers. All of these effects make sustainable development harder.
