Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh has revealed how climate change may affect average human life expectancy. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine PLOS Climate.
The author of the report is Dr. Amit Roy evaluated data on temperature, precipitation and people’s life expectancy in 191 countries from 1940 to 2020. In addition to measuring individual climate characteristics, the expert developed an index to assess the overall severity of climate change impacts based on these data.
The calculations included an assessment of both the direct consequences of a changing climate – floods, fires, heat waves and droughts – and indirect effects, which include respiratory diseases and mental disorders.
The results showed that a 1°C increase in global temperature would shorten the average human lifespan by six months and one week.
“The global threat posed by climate change to the well-being of billions of people underscores the urgent need to treat it as a public health crisis. “Climate change mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are vital to maintaining life expectancy and protecting public health worldwide,” said Dr. Roy.
Previous scientists I learnedHow tackling global warming can extend people’s lives.