One in two people confronted with a month of additional heat wave compared to normal – Liberation
Half of the world’s population has undergone the past year for a month of extreme heat additional compared to normal due to global warming Provided by man, according to a study published this Friday, May 30. Its results underline how much the continuous use of fossil fuels harms health and well-being on all continents, the effects being particularly unknown in developing countries, the researchers say.
Analysiscarried out by scientists from the World Weather Assignment, Central Climate and the Climate Center of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, was published before the World Day of Action against Heat on June 2, dedicated this year to the dangers of exhaustion caused by Heat waves.
« With each barrel of burnt oil, each tonne of released carbon dioxide and each fraction of degree of warming, the heat waves will receive more people », Note Friederike Otto, climatologist at the Imperial College in London and co -author of the report.
To assess the influence of global warming, the researchers analyzed the period from May 1, 2024 to May 1, 2025. The « days of extreme heat » were defined as those where the temperature was 90 % higher than the temperatures recorded in a given place between 1991 and 2020. They compared the number of these days to that of a simulated world without warming of human origin. The results are clear: about four billion people, or 49 % of the world’s population, experienced at least 30 days of extreme heat more than the past year than in the simulated world.
The study lists 67 episodes of extreme heat during the year, all marked with the imprint of global warming. The island of Aruba, in the Caribbean, was the most affected, with 187 days of extreme warmth, 45 more than we could expect from a world without climate change.
The year 2024 was in fact the hottest year ever recorded, exceeding 2023, while 2025 experienced the hottest month of January. On average, over five years, Global temperatures are now 1.3 degree Celsius higher than pre -industrial levels. In 2024, they exceeded 1.5 ° C, the symbolic ceiling fixed by the Paris Agreement on the climate.
The report published this Friday also highlights a glaring lack of data on the heat -related health impacts in the poorest regions. If Europe has recorded more than 61,000 dead -related deaths during the summer of 2022, there are hardly any figures available on this subject elsewhere. Many heat -related deaths are wrongly attributed to heart or pulmonary diseases.
