Fatal heat waves on the rise due to climate change, study warns

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Deadly heat waves are set to become more common in the next few decades due to climate change killing more people, a new study has said, warning that even a full global commitment to the Paris climate accord could not reverse the increasing trend of extremely hot weather.

The study was published in the US journal Nature Climate Change on June 19, and inspected over three decades of news related to abnormally hot weather.

Camilo Mora, the lead author of the paper from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, and his colleagues examined 1,949 heat waves covered in more than 900 newspapers between 1980 and 2014. The researchers found that at least 30 percent of the world’s population experiences over 20 days of extremely hot weather. By 2100, the percentage will grow to at least 48 percent of the global population.

"Even if we outperform the Paris targets, the population exposed to deadly heat will be about 50 percent by 2100."

- Camilo Mora, lead author of 'Global risk of deadly heat'

“Many people around the world are already paying the ultimate price of heat waves, and while models suggest that this is likely to continue, it could be much worse if emissions are not considerably reduced,” Mora said.

Hot weather, aggravated by high humidity, can bring internal body temperature in humans above 37 degrees Celsius, leading to life threatening conditions.

An interactive map created by Mora and his team shows the accelerating frequency and expansion of heat waves under different scenarios marked by changing levels of carbon dioxide.

China’s southeastern and southern coast will witness more prolonged periods of fatally hot weather conditions, so would tropical regions.

“We are running out of choices for the future,” warned Mora. “For heat waves, our options are now between bad or terrible.”