1. A study published by academics at Dartmouth last year found that heatwaves, brought on by human-caused climate change, cost the global economy an estimated $16tn over a 21-year period from the 1990s.
2. The International Labour Organization projected that by 2030, the equivalent of more than 2 per cent of total working hours worldwide would be lost every year, either because it is too hot to work or because workers have to work at a slower pace due to extreme heat.
3. Around 200 million people in cities today are at risk from extreme heat, a number that is expected to grow eightfold by 2050, according to Sachin Boite, director of climate resilience at the C40 network of mayors pushing for environmental action.
4. Between 1992 and 2016, 285 construction workers in the US died from heat-related causes, about a third of all the country’s occupational deaths from heat exposure, according to academic research.
5. Research from Arsht-Rock found that corn, the most widely produced US crop, is losing about $720 million in revenue annually because of extreme heat, which will increase to a projected $1.7 billion by 2030.
6. According to data from reinsurer Swiss Re, heat-related catastrophe losses for insurers, such as crop failures from drought or wildfire damage to properties, amounted to $46.4 billion in the five years to 2022, up from $29.4 billion in the previous five years.
