Impacts in Europe: 鈥榃e have a lot of people who are energy poor with little protection.鈥�
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In the past year we鈥檝e seen wildfires spread across Europe in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. These wildfires damaged the land and displaced thousands of people.
As people across Europe grappled to find security, Eleni Myrivili, the UN global chief heat officer, worked to spearhead heat response and resilience measures in cities around the globe.
High temperatures are particularly hard on urban areas, where buildings and pavement absorb and radiate heat. Aside from the additional heat from the sun, cities also have a higher concentration of people, cars and machinery, which further raises city temperatures.
Climate experts have long warned of rising temperatures and increased risks for human health and infrastructure.
鈥淲e are worried about cities because that鈥檚 where the majority of the population is,鈥� Myrivili said.
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鈥淲e have a lot of people who are socio-economically vulnerable and who are energy poor with little protection against these extreme events. We have to recognize heat as a crisis to focus on.鈥�
鈥擡leni Myrivili
UN global chief heat officer
5掳C听 to 9掳C warmer temperature
in cities than rural areas from the concentration of people, cars, machinery and buildings absorbing sunlight
~80 million full-time jobs
could be lost worldwide because of heat stress if no action is taken by 2030, resulting in losses of $2.3 trillion
5 million people die each year
because of extreme temperatures
