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Heat-induced losses

Εxtreme heat induces losses, including impacts on health, livelihoods, ecosystems, and economic activity.

Understand how heat events translate into direct and indirect losses, as well as the factors that influence their scale and distribution. The following materials support a better understanding of heat-related losses to inform proactive risk reduction.

Explore different approaches to measure heat-related losses.

Every year, the equivalent of 300+ million full-time jobs are lost — not to layoffs, but because work has simply become too hot to do.
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Heatwave, Bangladesh, 2023
Update
Bangladesh: When heat drains growth - the cost of rising temperatures

A new World Bank report, An Unsustainable Life: The Impact of Heat on Health and the Economy of Bangladesh, paints a sobering picture. It shows that heat is no longer just an environmental concern, it is a pressing development challenge.

World Bank, the
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India: Challenging anthropocentrism: Non-human loss and damage

Animal suffering is an example of non-economic loss and damage that is not recorded by the current loss and damage mechanism, which is inherently anthropogenic, focusing on human-centric, non-economic and economic losses.

Avoidable Deaths Network
Climate change, heat stress and labour productivity thumbnail
Documents and publications
Climate change, heat stress and labour productivity

This report assesses the anticipated effects of heat stress on labour productivity and regional economic output across Europe from 2020 to 2100, taking into account differences in climate, occupation, and socio-economic factors.

European Commission Joint Research Centre
Economic crisis concept shown by declining graphs and digital indicators overlap modernistic city background
Update
Key facts about the long-term impacts of extreme weather and disasters

How do extreme weather events and disasters affect communities long term? Solomon Hsiang discusses the impacts on economic growth and health, and how research can improve emergency management and mitigation strategies.

Stanford University
Analysis of economic losses and comprehensive impact factors of heatwave, drought, and heavy rain disasters in Hainan Island thumbnail
Documents and publications
Analysis of economic losses and comprehensive impact factors of heatwave, drought, and heavy rain disasters in Hainan Island

This study focuses on quantifying the economic losses caused by three major types of extreme climate events in Hainan Island from 2001 to 2020. Moreover, a comprehensive dataset of related economic losses was developed.

Atmosphere (MDPI)
Protecting UK workers’ health and incomes in a warming world thumbnail
Documents and publications
Protecting UK workers’ health and incomes in a warming world

The authors of this report surveyed 2,000 workers after the period of elevated temperatures in summer 2024 to gain insights into how they were affected.

London School of Economics and Political Science, the
Cover
Documents and publications
Projecting the overall heat-related health burden and associated economic costs in a climate change context in Quebec, Canada

In this study, a general framework for assessing historical and projected heat-related health costs is presented and then applied to the province of Quebec (Canada).

Science of The Total Environment (Elsevier)
A tired and stressed worker sweating from the hot weather in the summer working in a port goods cargo shipping logistic ground,
Research briefs
Heat waves, droughts cause billions of dollars in economic losses

Severe weather costs the global economy billions of dollars a year, highlighting the costs of climate change and the value of mitigating extreme weather, according to a new analysis of weather and economic data.

University of Florida
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