Last month saw another extreme weather milestone with the world’s hottest day on recent record registered on 22 July – yet another indication of the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are changing our climate, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on Wednesday.

Global average temperatures for 13 consecutive months from June 2023 to June 2024 also set new monthly records.

50℃ barrier broken

“Widespread, intense and extended heat waves have hit every continent in the past year. At least ten countries have recorded daily temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius in more than one location,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

These trends underline the urgency of the Call to Action on Extreme Heat, a new initiative launched in July by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat.

“Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere,” stressed the UN Chief.

Deadly impacts

Extreme heat is causing a ripple effect felt right across society.

An annual 1℃ increase in temperature leads to a 9.1 per cent increase in poverty. Moreover, 12 per cent of all food produced is lost due to a lack of cooling and working hours equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs could be lost due to heat stress by 2030.

The consequences have become deathly. Nearly half a million heat-related deaths occurred each year from 2000 to 2019.

Taken together, extreme heat is tearing through economies, widening inequalities, and derailing the future of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“This is becoming too hot to handle,” said Saulo.

The UN chief launched the Call to Action to mitigate the dire environmental and socioeconomic consequences that are already evident.

The initiative emphasises the need for concerted effort in four critical areas: caring for the vulnerable, protecting workers, boosting resilience of economies and societies using data and science, and limiting temperature rise to 1.5℃ by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy.

It brings together the expertise and perspectives of ten specialised UN entities, underscoring the diverse multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat on human health, lives, and livelihoods.

“The WMO community is committed to responding to the UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action with better heat-health early warnings and action plans,” said Saulo, adding that recent estimates indicate that the global scale-up of heat health-warning systems for 57 countries alone has the potential to save around 98,000 lives per year.