José Coelho / LUSA
2024 has so far, globally, had an average of 41 extra days of “dangerous heat. Portugal caught 20 of those days. The record holder was Nauru with 173.
The report by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central concluded that climate change intensified 26 of the 29 extreme weather events targeted in the study, responsible kill at least 3,700 people and cause the displacement of millions of citizens.
The two organizations defined the days of more than 200 countries and territories by analyzing the average temperatures in these areas between 1991 and 2020 and identifying the 10% hottest percentile, with the values usually associated with greater health risks.
Calculating the average number of days hotter than normal in the different territories, it was concluded that 2024 had another 41 days of “dangerous heat” in the world than in a scenario without climate change.
Portugalfor example, had 20 dias plus dangerously high temperatures – which doesn’t seem very serious when compared to other regions that have had more than 100 extra days of extreme heat.
O Nauruan isolated island in Oceania, with around 12 thousand inhabitants, held the record for days with too much heat: 173. This is followed by countries such as Barbados (164 days) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (159). On the opposite side of the table, the South Koreawhich “only” had 12 extra hot days.
In the European context, below Portugal are only Iceland (13 days), Monaco (17) and Ireland (18). Our neighbor Spain caught 30 of those days.
How much more can the planet take?
Joseph Giguere, a research associate at Climate Central, highlighted that temperatures high enough to threaten human health “are becoming more common due to climate change”.
“In many countries, residents are exposed to additional weeks of heat, reaching risk thresholds that would be practically impossible without the influence of global warming,” he warned.
WWA leader Friederike Otto stressed that society has the knowledge and technology to move away from fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy, reduce demand and stop deforestation.
The measures must be implemented and not remain relegated to the background by technologies such as carbon dioxide removal, which “will not work without doing everything else first”, argued the climate science professor at Imperial College London.
“The solutions have been in front of us for years. By 2025, all countries must intensify their efforts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy and prepare for extreme weather conditions“, warned Otto.
