Rapid climate action is needed: comparing heat vs. COVID-19-related mortality
Abstract
AbstractThe impacts of climate change on human health are often underestimated or perceived to be in a distant future. Here, we present the projected impacts of climate change in the context of COVID-19, a recent human health catastrophe. We compared projected heat mortality with COVID-19 deaths in 38 cities worldwide and found that in half of these cities, heat-related deaths could exceed annual COVID-19 deaths in less than ten years (at + 3.0 °C increase in global warming relative to preindustrial). In seven of these cities, heat mortality could exceed COVID-19 deaths in less than five years. Our results underscore the crucial need for climate action and for the integration of climate change into public health discourse and policy.
Article Details
Authors (20)
Fulden Batibeniz
Sonia I. Seneviratne
Srinidhi Jha
Andreia Ribeiro
Laura Suarez Gutierrez
Christoph C. Raible
Avni Malhotra
Ben Armstrong
Michelle L. Bell
Eric Lavigne
Antonio Gasparrini
Yuming Guo
Masahiro Hashizume
Pierre Masselot
Susana Pereira da Silva
Dominic Royé
Francesco Sera
Shilu Tong
Aleš Urban
Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera