By The Financial District
Dec 5, 20231 min
As global temperatures rise, more people face exposure to dangerously high temperatures annually.
With current laws, population growth, and environmental conditions, the world is likely to surpass 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit above the preindustrial benchmark.
Recent findings published in Nature Sustainability project that without policy changes, over 2 billion people will inhabit life-threatening hot climates by the end of the century, as reported by Laurelle Stelle in The Cool Down.
The world's average temperature has already risen by just under 1.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels due to human activity.
While the Paris Agreement aims to cap the increase at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the new study suggests that, with current laws, population growth, and environmental conditions, the world is likely to surpass 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit above the preindustrial benchmark.
Researchers identified "unprecedented heat" zones with average temperatures throughout the year exceeding 84.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Forty years ago, only 12 million people lived in such areas, but that number has now risen to 60 million.
By 2100, 2 billion out of an estimated global population of 9.5 billion are projected to reside in areas with an average temperature exceeding 84.2 degrees Fahrenheit, with countries around the equator, including India, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Pakistan, facing the most significant impact.