Horrifying study reveals extraordinary number of people who will die from climate change by 2050
The impact of climate change is becoming harder to ignore.
From record-breaking heatwaves to rising sea levels and worsening wildfires, the climate crisis is no longer a far-off problem.
This week, temperatures in Pakistan rose to a sweltering 118°F (47°C), with some regions expected to come close to the all-time April high of 122°F (50°C).
This extreme heat is also spreading over the Middle East and South Asia, including Iran, India and Saudi Arabia.
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In response, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has shared chilling new estimates of just how fatal things could become if we don’t act fast.
The experts predict that extreme heat could kill around 11,000 Britons per year by 2050.
"We have seen in the last couple of years that the country is not prepared for the impacts of climate change," said Baroness Brown, chair of the CCC's adaptation committee. "We know there is worse to come, and we are not ready – indeed in many areas we are not even planning to be ready."
Without urgent action, the UK will could face a 7% hit to its economic output by 2050 due to climate-related impacts. The CCC warns that rising sea levels will worsen coastal flooding while extreme temperatures and drought are causing more wildfires. Furthermore, climate-related death toll figures across Europe are equally as alarming, as reported by the Environment & Health Modelling Lab (EHM) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
Published in Nature Medicine, the modelling study estimates that climate changes could directly result in over 2.3 million additional temperature-related deaths across 854 European cities by 2099.
In places like the Mediterranean, Central Europe and the Balkans, heatwaves are expected to hit especially hard. But even with strong efforts to adapt to hotter temperatures, scientists say that won’t be enough to offset the growing risk. According to the research, the only real way to reduce extreme heat-related deaths is by rapidly lowering emissions and strictly keeping global temperatures in check.
“Our results stress the urgent need to aggressively pursue both climate change mitigation and adaptation to increased heat," said Dr. Pierre Masselot, lead author at the EHM-Lab at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). "This is especially critical in the Mediterranean area where, if nothing is done, consequences could be dire. But, by following a more sustainable pathway, we could avoid millions of deaths before the end of the century.”
The study also ranked the ten European cities expected to see the worst temperature-related death tolls by the end of the century, painting a bleak picture of what’s ahead if nothing changes.