Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Workers carry ice blocks on a hand cart in New Delhi on May 30, 2024, amid an ongoing heatwave.
Those most at risk include children, women, older people, those with disabilities, those living in poverty, outdoor workers and already marginalised populations. Researchers have documented more than 6°C differences between some urban neighbourhoods and surrounding rural areas in both high and low-income countries. The report cited a study that assessed data from more than 13 000 cities around the world and found that urban heat exposure
The nine countries with the largest number of people at high heat-related risk because of inadequate access to cooling are India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan and Brazil. The failure to act on climate change also poses existential risks to future generations.
To protect workers, all governments should enact legally binding heat stress standards for indoor and outdoor workers based on actual weather conditions, consistent with international best practice standards, and “companies should protect workers from heat even in the absence of laws requiring them to do so”.