Global warming has already affected 96% of the world’s population — study

Photo by: Luca Prestia / iStock

Some 7.6 billion people — 96% of humanity — have been affected by global warming over the past 12 months. This is according to a report by the think tank Climate Central, science news portal Phys.org reports.

Using precise data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on daily temperatures over the past 70 years and two dozen climate models, scientists have created a new metric, the Climate Shift Index.

It calculates the probability that abnormally warm weather in a certain region is linked to climate change.

For example, 26 cities have experienced at least 250 of the 365 days since October 2021 that were at least three times more likely to be due to climate change than to any other cause.

Most of the heat-affected cities were in East Africa, Mexico, Brazil, small island states and the Malay archipelago of 25,000 islands belonging to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Lagos, Mexico City and Singapore were among the most affected major cities as man-made heat waves increased health risks for millions of people.

In addition, among the 1,021 cities analysed between September 2021 and October 2022, the capitals of Samoa and Palau in the South Pacific experienced the most noticeable climate effects, the study said.

“The warming effects are much more noticeable in the equatorial belt because there has historically been less variability in temperature,” said Climate Central chief scientist Ben Strauss.

The scientist said the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on tropical and island regions is linked to ocean influence.

Note that in 2022, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification released data showing that from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water factors accounted for half of natural disasters and 45% of human deaths — mostly in developing countries.

During this period, droughts accounted for just 15% of natural disasters. But it is these that have caused the greatest loss of life, with some 650 000 deaths due to drought. The drying up of soils has caused considerable damage to the global economy.

From 1998 to 2017, droughts caused an estimated loss of $124 billion. Today, more than 2.3 billion people on the planet, including 160 million children, suffer from water scarcity.

Cover photo: Wavetop / iStock