Recently a study was conducted to calculate human cost of climate change. According to it, more than one-third of world’s heat deaths are related to global warming each year.
Key Findings
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According to scientists, more people die from other extreme weather which increases due to global warming like storms, flooding and drought.
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They highlight, heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures.
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Heat deaths were recorded along 732 districts and around the globe from 1991 to 2018. It shows, 37% (9700 people) were caused by higher temperatures from human-caused warming.
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Highest percentages of heat deaths due to climate change were recorded in cities of South America.
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Southern Europe and southern Asia were recorded as other hot spots for heat deaths due to climate change.
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35% of heat deaths in United States were due to climate change.
Climate Change
It includes global warming caused due to human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and large-scale shifts in weather patterns. There have been previous periods of climatic change but since mid-20th century, humans have negatively impacted Earth’s climate system and caused global climate change.
Sources of greenhouse gases
Largest contributor of warming is emission of gases which result into greenhouse effect. In thus, 90% share is carbon dioxide (CO) and methane. Use of Fossil fuel, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, for energy consumption is main source of emissions. Some contribution is accounted from agriculture, deforestation, and manufacturing as well.