New Delhi: Climate change is projected to increase premature deaths across the world, with over 90 per cent of these slated to occur in low– and middle-income countries, a new global report has highlighted.
The report, released on Wednesday by the Climate Impact Lab, a global network of economists, climate scientists, data engineers, and risk analysts, warned that climate change-induced extreme heat is expected to impact low- and middle-income countries the most.
“This report uncovers one of climate change’s cruellest ironies. It is projected to kill millions of people in the countries that have generally done the least to cause it. Further, their relatively low-income levels mean that they are not as well-positioned as people in rich countries to confront the new and unfolding risks from climate change,” said Michael Greenstone, co-founder of the Climate Impact Lab and director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.
Greenstone said that the report also identified the regions around the world where climate adaptation investments can save the most lives.
The report projected that by 2050, vulnerable countries would witness an increase in heat-related deaths equivalent to fatalities from common diseases.
“The issue is not only that warmer regions are set to experience higher mortality than cooler ones, but also that the greatest impacts are projected to fall on regions that are both hotter and poorer, as they have fewer resources for adaptation,” the report read.
Explaining the impact with an example, the report said that the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa is projected to experience double the number of deaths from heat than the wealthier country of Kuwait in the Middle East, despite their similar climates.
“Overall, ten times more people are projected to die from the heat in poor countries than in rich countries by 2050,” it added.
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India-related findings
India stood 76th in a list of 241 most vulnerable countries to climate change. The country-level average change in the mortality rate here induced by climate-related anomalies is projected to be 2.4 deaths per 1,00,000 people.
According to the research, northwest and north-central India are expected to witness the largest increase in projected temperature-related mortality. Karanpur in Rajasthan is slated to record the largest increase in mortality, with 26 deaths per 1,00,000 people.
“For the regions with the largest increase in temperature-related mortality (around 23-25 additional deaths per 100,000), that change is on par with the current death rates for tuberculosis and diabetes in India,” the report read.
Researchers said the report was the first in a new ‘Adaptation Roadmap’ series that stresses the urgent need to embrace adaptation as a central part of the strategy to confront climate change, alongside greenhouse gas emissions mitigation.
“The series is part of an expanded mission for the Lab. Building off a decade of research on the impacts of climate change, the Lab is now working to uncover not only where adaptation will be most needed but also the benefits to specific investments,” the Climate Impact Lab said in a statement.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)