2023 was the hottest year on record, according to EU climate monitor (Representational)
Paris, France:
The world has experienced an average of 26 more days of extreme heat over the past 12 months, which would likely not have occurred without climate change, a report said on Tuesday.
Heat is the leading cause of climate-related death and the report also points to the role of global warming in increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions around the world.
For this study, scientists used the years 1991 to 2020 to determine which temperatures were in the top 10% highest in each country during that period.
They then looked at the 12 months up to May 15, 2024, to establish how many days during that period recorded temperatures within – or beyond – the previous 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 has added – on average, everywhere in the world – 26 more days of extreme heat than would have been the case without it.”
The report was published by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre, the scientific network World Weather Attribution and the non-profit research organization Climate Central.
2023 was the hottest year on record, according to the European Union’s climate monitor Copernicus.
Already this year, extreme heat waves have hit parts of the globe, from Mexico to Pakistan.
The report states that in the last 12 months around 6.3 billion people – around 80% of the world’s population – have experienced at least 31 days of what is classed as 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 states that without the influence of climate change, Suriname would have recorded around 24 days of extreme heat instead of 182; Equator 10 and not 180; Guyana 33 no 174, El Salvador 15 no 163; and Panama 12 and not 149.
“It (extreme heat) is known to have killed tens of thousands of people over the past 12 months, but the real number is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands or even millions,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
“Floods and hurricanes may grab the headlines, but the impacts of extreme heat are just as deadly,” said Jagan Chapagain, secretary-general of the International Federation of the Red Cross.
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