Global emergence of unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes
Environment and Climate Change Canada · Vrije Universiteit Brussel · +3 more institutions
Abstract
. Yet, how this translates into unprecedented cumulative extreme event exposure in a person's lifetime remains unclear. Here we use climate models, impact models and demographic data to project the number of people experiencing cumulative lifetime exposure to climate extremes above the 99.99th percentile of exposure expected in a pre-industrial climate. We project that the birth cohort fraction facing this unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, river floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones will at least double from 1960 to 2020 under current mitigation policies aligned with a global warming pathway reaching 2.7 °C above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100. Under a 1.5 °C…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 88.99
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 45
Authors
6Topics & keywords
- Climate change
- Climate extremes
- Environmental science
- Greenhouse gas
- Climate model
- Climatology
- Population
- Global warming
- Climate action