Extreme climate events, health, and youth

Extreme climate events will continue to increase in terms of frequency, intensity, duration, and geographic reach around the world in the coming decades under current climate policy pledges. Thus, heat waves, droughts, crop failures, floods, cyclones, and wildfires are expected to increase worldwide. Young generations will experience more severe events during their lifetime in comparison to their parents and grandparents. The wellbeing and safety of young generations calls for serious emission reductions to safeguard their future.

The findings presented in this factsheet are derived from research conducted by the “Cascading climate risks: towards adaptive and resilient European societies” (CASCADES) project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The CASCADES project focuses on quantifying the impact of extreme climate events and specifically studies how youth will experience more climate-related extreme events than older generations.