This seminar is part of the Climate Cookies & Coffee series of the Belgian Climate Centre. This seminar series was launched to foster knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and interdisciplinary discussion among climate researchers.
For this edition, the Belgian Climate Centre will welcome Rosa Pietroiusti (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) with a presentation on "Children are disproportionately exposed to heat stress attributable to anthropogenic climate change".
Abstract:
Climate change is increasing people's exposure to heat stress across the world, with conditions of high temperatures and high humidity becoming increasingly frequent. Particularly vulnerable groups to heat stress include the elderly, young children, people with pre-existing health conditions, outdoor workers and people living in inadequate housing.
Children are particularly vulnerable to many climate change impacts and will face intensifying effects of climate change during their lifetimes. Nonetheless, in this study we show that at a global level children already today face disproportionate exposure compared to older generations, as many live in regions hit the hardest by escalating humid heat stress. Combining demographic data with a global grid-scale attribution framework, we find that, at present-day warming levels, 2.8 to 3 times more children aged 0 to 9 years than adults aged 60 to 69 years are exposed to at least 20 additional heat stress days attributable to anthropogenic climate change based on both reanalysis (3.0 [3.0 to 3.1]) and climate models (2.8 [2.4 to 3.0]).
On average, children experience 9 to 10 more attributable heat stress days than people aged 60 to 69 years (reanalysis: 9 [6 to 9]; models: 10 [6 to 13]), and this difference is likely conservative as children spend more time outdoors. This intergenerational disparity persists as overall heat stress escalates under global warming of 1.5° and 2°C, highlighting the need for mitigation and adaptation policies to protect children and other vulnerable groups from heat-related health risks.
