Heat-induced losses

Heat-related deaths look less dramatic than other climate disasters, yet they are far more frequent. This article looks into why Europe’s deadliest climate hazard remains its least visible one.

HERA’s first-of-its-kind tool and analysis estimates how extreme heat affects economic output and mortality in cities around the world. It shows the likely impact on workers today and how those impacts could grow by 2050.

This report outlines the geography and scale of household energy burden across the United States of America, with particular attention to the impacts of extreme heat and cooling costs.

In the first 6 months of the year, disasters caused worldwide losses estimated at US$112bn. Of that, only US$44bn were insured, representing a 60% insurance gap. Losses were below the inflation-adjusted 10-year average and well below the 5-year average.

Figures come as large parts of southern Europe endure another record-breaking period of extreme temperatures.

The continent with the lowest number of hot days leads the world in heat mortality. Europe’s self-inflicted aversion to air conditioning betrays a deeper hostility to energy and to progress itself.

A landmark global economic analysis, paired with a state-of-the-art heat solution cost-benefit calculator covering 11,408 cities worldwide, shows that investing in heat action saves billions in losses.

This study analyzed national trends in heatstroke-related emergency transports from 2010 to 2024 using Fire and Disaster Management Agency surveillance data in Japan focusing on age distribution, case severity, place of occurrence, and regional variation.