Can the Paris Climate Goals Save Lives? Yes, a Lot of Them, Researchers Say

Summertime heat is forecast to become even deadlier without action to drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, according to a new study. 

The Coney Island boardwalk in August. The greatest risk
of increased heat fatalities is in northern cities like New
York and Boston, a study has found.

Under the Paris climate agreement, 195 countries pledged to cut their greenhouse gas in an effort to hold global warming to two degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels. They also promised efforts to limit the temperature increase even further, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The half-degree difference between 1.5 and two degrees may not seem like much, but, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, it could mean saving or losing thousands of lives each year in the United States alone.

Read the story from The New York Times by Kendra Pierre-Louis - “Can the Paris Climate Goals Save Lives? Yes, a Lot of Them, Researchers Say.”