Over the past 12 months, climate change caused an average of 26 additional days of extreme heat globally, a report by the International Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre revealed on Tuesday.
To track surplus 'heatwave' days linked to greenhouse gas emissions, the Centre teamed up with the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network and non-profit organisation Climate Central. They recorded days with temperatures exceeding 90% of those documented during the 1991-2020 period, from 15 May 2023 to 15 May 2024.
The scientists then analysed the climate change impact on these unusually hot days, using a process validated by their peers. They deduced that on average, 26 of these days recorded an extreme temperature made twice as likely due to global warming, categorising them as surplus heat days.
In addition, the vast majority of the world’s population endured heatwaves. Roughly 78% of humanity, or 6.3 billion people, experienced at least 31 days of extreme heat over the past year. In total, 76 extreme heatwaves were recorded across 90 different countries, spanning every continent apart from Antarctica, the scientists estimate.
The five most affected countries are all in Latin America: Suriname experienced 182 days of extreme heat compared with 24 estimated without climate change, followed by Ecuador (180 days instead of 10), Guyana (174 versus 33), El Salvador (163 compared to 15), and Panama (149 instead of 12).
