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Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities
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A deadly threat. Rising temperatures significantly threaten the physical and economic health of women and girls around the world. As a result of extreme heat, by 2050, more than 200,000 women in India, Nigeria, and the United States could die each year, new research by the Atlantic Council finds. Excessive heat restricts women’s working hours, resulting in a loss of income. The poorest women—such as West Bengal bricklayers who work outdoors and perform arduous physical labor—are often the most affected. [Atlantic Council]
Lacking air-conditioning. As record-high temperatures are being recorded across the globe, women are disproportionately exposed to health and financial risks. Extreme heat in India, Nigeria, and the United States limits women’s capacity for paid labor, amounting to $120 billion in lost productivity each year. Women who perform domestic chores, including collecting water for cleaning and cooking, are especially vulnerable to scorching temperatures. Just 9% of women’s working hours in India occur in air-conditioned workplaces. [Scientific American]
Climate risk challenges. As India faces a rapidly changing physical environment, extreme heat and humidity could put millions of lives and billions of dollars at risk. In fact, India could become one of the world’s first places to experience heat waves that exceed what a healthy human resting in the shade could survive, McKinsey Global Institute director Jonathan Woetzel and coauthors explain. Rising heat and humidity levels will also affect labor productivity and economic growth in an economy that relies substantially on outdoor work.
What extreme heat costs. Chronic exposure to extreme heat rapidly decreases people’s ability to perform outdoor work. In India, the number of daylight hours during which outdoor work is unsafe will increase approximately 15% by 2030, compared with today’s levels, McKinsey analysis reveals. Lost labor hours due to increasing heat and humidity levels could put roughly 2.5 to 4.5% of GDP at risk by 2030, equivalent to roughly $150 billion to $250 billion. See what it would take for India to address the risk of lethal heat waves.
— Edited by Belinda Yu, editor, Atlanta
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