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In a latest report published on November 4, the United Nations affirms that if nothing is done to curb it, climate change will cause more losses than cancer, especially in the hottest countries.
Without any reversal of the situation, the predictions concerning global warming all paint a rather gloomy future one by one. And it is not the latest United Nations publication that is likely to clear up the picture. Indeed, according to the last United Nations Development Program (UNDP) published on November 4, the deadly impact of climate change could set records for decades to come. Especially in the hottest and poorest countries.
The cardiovascular system put to the test
Not all regions of the world will experience climate change in the same way. But the document reports in particular the case of cities subject to effective warming, such as in Bangladesh, which also has few means. In this specific case, if greenhouse gas emissions (globally) remain very high by 2100, the country could see twice as many deaths linked to climate change as those due to cancer, all types combined. .
For what reasons ? The report thus explains that if they become very, too high, the extreme temperatures “strain the cardiovascular and respiratory systems”. For other countries, like Pakistan, that same heat could become deadlier than strokes.
Also unsurprisingly, the report points to inequalities between the countries that will be more or less affected. An inequality linked in particular to financial means.
Is there still time to avoid this?
In this same report, the experts persist and repeat it: the only way to curb global warming would be to respect the Paris Agreement established in 2015, i.e. to “contain global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100″ and of “continue efforts to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5°C”.
“A planetary rigor that could reduce mortality by 80% until the end of the century” claims the document. Encouragingly, 72% of countries with Nationally Determined Contributions that refer to a just transition actually link them to their socio-economic considerations. And 66% propose concrete actions and measures taking climate justice into account.