- EU's Copernicus says “2023 was the hottest year on record.”
- 76 extreme heat waves recorded in 90 different countries.
- Extreme heat is just as deadly as floods and hurricanes: Chapagain.
The world experienced an average of 26 more days of extreme heat in the past 12 months that likely would not have occurred without climate change, according to a report released Tuesday.
Heat is the leading cause of climate-related deaths and the report also notes the role of global warming in increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events around the world.
For this study, scientists used the years 1991 to 2020 to determine which temperatures were in the top 10% for each country during that period.
They then looked at the 12 months to May 15, 2024 to establish how many days during that period experienced temperatures within or beyond the above range.
Then, using peer-reviewed methods, they examined the influence of climate change on each of these excessively hot days.
They concluded that “human-caused climate change added, on average, everywhere in the world, 26 more days of extreme heat than would have occurred without it.”
The report was published by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre, the World Weather Attribution science network and the non-profit research organization Climate Central.
2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, according to Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitor.
Already this year, extreme heat waves have affected large areas of the world, from Mexico to Pakistan.
The report states that in the last 12 months some 6.3 billion people (about 80% of the world's population) experienced at least 31 days of what is considered extreme heat.
In total, 76 extreme heat waves were recorded in 90 different countries on all continents except Antarctica.
Five of the most affected nations were in Latin America.
The report says that without the influence of climate change, Suriname would have recorded approximately 24 days of extreme heat instead of 182; Ecuador 10 no 180; Guyana 33 no 174, El Salvador 15 no 163; and Panama 12 no 149.
“(Extreme heat) is known to have killed tens of thousands of people in the past 12 months, but the real number is probably in the hundreds of thousands or even millions,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
“Floods and hurricanes may grab the headlines, but the effects of extreme heat are just as deadly,” said Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of the Red Cross.
