Increasing temperatures hit poorest countries hardest

It’s the world’s poorest countries that are feeling the most heat from human-caused climate change, new research has found.

The world's poorest countries are feeling the
most heat from human caused climate change.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, based at UNSW, has found poorer countries have had substantially greater increases in hot days and warm nights as a result of human-caused climate change, compared to wealthy countries.

“We know that hot days at the extreme end of the spectrum can have significant health and economic impacts, particularly for those countries that can least afford to adapt,” said lead researcher Dr Nicholas Herold.

“What we’ve shown is that these hot days have been increasing at a substantially higher rate in the poorest countries compared to the richest countries for more than 20 years.”

Read the Keep It Clever story - “Increasing temperatures hit poorest countries hardest.”