Lack of access to cooling to amplify heat deaths in Pakistan

As extreme heat events become more frequent, most poor countries lack the resources to power the cooling systems needed to adapt to rising temperatures, resulting in 10 times more deaths compared to their wealthier counterparts.

According to a new study by the Climate Impact Lab, headquartered at the University of Chicago, climate-driven temperature changes are on track to cause about 430,000 more deaths annually by 2050, and cooling systems can play a major role in preventing these deaths.

Areas in 18 countries—home to 676 million people— are trapped in a deadly combination of extreme heat and lack of cooling, described as a ‘mortality-cooling trap’ (MCT) by the study.

As many as 377,000 lives are projected to be lost each year starting in 2050 due to warmer temperatures in these countries, including Pakistan, Nigar, Nepal etc.

All of these people live in either low-income or lower middle-income countries today, mostly in northern sub-Saharan Africa such as Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad. The rest live in southern Asia, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. The study noted that these countries will not be able to respond in the same way as richer countries due to energy affordability constraints.