Following Three Hottest Days on Record, Secretary-General Launches Global Action Call to Care for Most Vulnerable, Protect Workers, Boost Resilience Using Data, Science

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the press on extreme heat, in New York today:

It’s summertime.  But the living is no longer easy.

This has been a week of unprecedented heat.  First, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service declared Sunday, 21 July, as the hottest day on record.  Then on Monday, 22 July, the mercury climbed even higher.  And now we have just received preliminary data indicating that Tuesday, 23 July, was in the same range.  In other words, this past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were the three hottest days on record.

But, let’s face facts:  extreme temperatures are no longer a one day, one week or one month phenomenon.  If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat.  Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.

Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic — wilting under increasingly deadly heatwaves, with temperatures topping 50°C around the world.  That’s 122°F.  And halfway to boiling.

This year, we’ve seen a deadly heatwave hit the Sahel — with spiking hospitalizations and deaths.  And broken temperature records across the United States — reportedly placing 120 million people under heat advisory warnings.  Scorching conditions have killed 1,300 pilgrims during Haj; shut down tourist attractions in Europe’s sweatbox cities; and closed schools across Asia and Africa, impacting more than 80 million children.

Of course, summer heat is as old as the hills.  But, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others have documented a rapid rise in the scale, intensity, frequency and duration of extreme-heat events. And it comes against a background of ever-rising temperatures — with June officially the thirteenth consecutive month to break global temperature records.

Extreme heat is increasingly tearing through economies, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals and killing people.  Heat is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year, that’s about 30 times more than tropical cyclones.

We know what is driving it:  fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change.  And we know it’s going to get worse.  Extreme heat is the new abnormal.  But, the good news is that there are solutions.  The good news is we can save lives and limit its impact.  Today, we are launching a global call to action with four areas of focus.

First, caring for the most vulnerable.  Crippling heat is everywhere — but it doesn’t affect everyone equally.  Those most at risk when the mercury soars include the urban poor, pregnant women, people with disabilities, older people, the very young, the sick, the displaced and the impoverished – who often live in substandard housing without access to cooling.  For example, heat-related deaths for people over 65 years of age increased around 85 per cent in 20 years.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) tells us that almost 25 per cent of all children today are exposed to frequent heatwaves.  By 2050, that could rise to virtually 100 per cent.  And the number of urban poor living in extreme heat could rise 700 per cent.  Extreme heat amplifies inequality, inflames food insecurity and pushes people further into poverty.

We must respond by massively increasing access to low-carbon cooling; expanding passive cooling — such as natural solutions and urban design; and cleaning up cooling technologies while boosting their efficiency.  The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that, together, these measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year.

It’s also vital to boost protection for the most vulnerable — in line with the Early Warning Systems for All initiative.  The World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Meteorological Organization estimate that scaling up heat health-warning systems in 57 countries alone could save almost 100,000 lives a year.

Finance to help safeguard communities from climate chaos is essential.  And I urge developed countries to honour their promises, and show how they will close the gaping adaptation finance gap.

Second, we must step up protections for workers.  A new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) — being released today — warns that over 70 per cent of the global workforce — 2.4 billion people — are now at high risk of extreme heat.

In Asia and the Pacific, three in four workers are now exposed to extreme heat.  More than 8 out of 10 in Arab States, more than 9 out of 10 in Africa.  Meanwhile, the Europe and Central Asia region has the most rapidly increasing workforce exposure to excessive heat.  And the Americas is seeing the most rapidly increasing heat-related occupational injuries. All of this is having a profound impact on people and the economy.

Excessive heat is the cause of almost 23 million workplace injuries worldwide.  And as daily temperatures rise above 34°C — or 93.2°F — labour productivity drops by 50 per cent.  Heat stress at work is projected to cost the global economy $2.4 trillion by 2030. Up from $280 billion in the mid-1990s.  We need measures to protect workers, grounded in human rights.  And we must ensure that laws and regulations reflect the reality of extreme heat today — and are enforced.

Third, we must massively boost the resilience of economies and societies using data and science.  Extreme heat impacts almost every area:  Infrastructure buckles, crops fail and pressure piles on water supplies, health systems and electricity grids.  Cities are a particular worry — they are heating up at twice the global average.  Countries, cities and sectors need comprehensive, tailored Heat Action Plans, based on the best science and data.  And we need a concerted effort to heat-proof economies, critical sectors and the built environment.

Finally, I want to make one overarching point.  Today, our focus is on the impact of extreme heat. But, let’s not forget that there are many other devastating symptoms of the climate crisis:  ever-more fierce hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels. The list goes on.

To tackle all these symptoms, we need to fight the disease. The disease is the madness of incinerating our only home.  The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels.  The disease is climate inaction.  Leaders across the board must wake up and step up.

That means Governments — especially Group of 20 (G20) countries — as well as the private sector, cities and regions acting as though our future depends on it — because it does.  All countries must deliver by next year nationally determined contributions — or national climate action plans — aligned to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

The International Energy Agency has shown that fossil fuel expansion and new coal plants are inconsistent with meeting that limit.  I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world’s wealthiest countries.  In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future.

The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential.  Countries must phase-out fossil fuels — fast and fairly.  They must end new coal projects.  The G20 must shift fossil fuel subsidies to renewables and support vulnerable countries and communities.

And national climate action plans must show how each country will contribute to the global goals agreed at COP28 [twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] to triple the world’s renewables capacity, and end deforestation by 2030.  They must also cut global consumption and production of fossil fuels by 30 per cent in the same timeframe.

And we need similar 1.5°C-aligned transition plans from business, the financial sector, cities and regions — following the recommendations of my High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero.

Climate action also requires finance action.  That includes countries coming together for a strong finance outcome from COP29; progress on innovative sources of finance; drastically boosting the lending capacity of multilateral development banks to help developing countries tackle the climate crisis; and wealthier countries making good on all their climate finance commitments.

The message is clear:  the heat is on.  Extreme heat is having an extreme impact on people and planet.  The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.