Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

A woman uses a fan as she stays indoors  as people try to deal with the heat as they travel in Navotas City on April 22, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

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WEATHER-CLIMATE

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178701441321720240422-earth-environment-heat-index-JC-1020.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A woman uses a fan as she stays indoors  as people try to deal with the heat as they travel in Navotas City on April 22, 2024. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><p>PARIS, France — The threat that rising temperatures fuelled by climate change pose to the health of older people has been dramatically underestimated, according to a US modelling study published Tuesday.</p><p>The research was released during a blistering northern hemisphere summer when extreme heat broke numerous records and contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of people.</p><p>For the study, a US team led by researchers at Stanford University sought to estimate how often human-caused global warming will push temperatures to levels that elderly people cannot tolerate.</p><p>Previous research in this area has used a measurement called wet-bulb temperature, which incorporates humidity to estimate how much heat a human body can withstand.</p><p>However this research was conducted on young, healthy adults, according to the study in The Lancet Planetary Health.</p><p>This means it did not take into account the greater risk heat poses to older people because they sweat less and tend to have weaker hearts as well as pre-existing medical conditions.</p><p>So the researchers used new data from more recent wet-bulb experiments conducted in the United States which tested how people over 60 tolerated higher heat and humidity.</p><p>Taking into account the world&#x27;s aging population, they then modelled how heat will affect the health of three different age ranges by 2100 under varying levels of global warming.</p><p>&quot;Intolerable heat will be experienced at much larger scales and for longer durations, affecting far more people than previously estimated,&quot; the study concluded.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>DRIVING &#x27;CLIMATE MIGRATION&#x27; </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>If the world gets 1.5 C warmer than pre-industrial levels, 22 percent of people over 60 will be exposed to unsafe heat for at least a month every year worldwide, the researchers estimated.</p><p>Each extra degree of warming will mean a billion more people will experience roughly another month of heat and humidity beyond what their body can tolerate.</p><p>If the world warms by 3C, elderly people in the worst-affected regions -- south Asia and the Gulf -- could face dangerous heat day-and-night for three straight months a year, according to the study.</p><p>The countries facing the greatest threat were said to be those with high levels of poverty and little access to cooling, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Niger.</p><p>&quot;These results suggest that uncompensable heat could increasingly drive internal displacement and transboundary climate migration, raising new policy and humanitarian challenges,&quot; the study warned.</p><p>To avoid these grim scenarios, the researchers called for the world to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases—and for future heat plans to prioritize vulnerable older people.</p><p>Most deaths from heat happen indoors, meaning that &quot;broader access to air-conditioning and other cooling facilities&quot; is particularly important, they emphasized.</p><p>Wildfires, long heatwaves and drought have ravaged Europe during what is expected to be the world&#x27;s fastest-warming continent&#x27;s hottest summer on record.</p><p>Next year is expected to be even hotter.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3F23WZOrB4M?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fIZNVwLs8vk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>To avoid these grim scenarios, the researchers called for the world to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases—and for future heat plans to prioritize vulnerable older people.</p>

To avoid these grim scenarios, the researchers called for the world to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases—and for future heat plans to prioritize vulnerable older people.

Elderly far more at risk from rising heat than thought—study

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Elderly far more at risk from rising heat than thought—study

Daniel Lawler,

Agence France-Presse

Published August 18, 2026 08:56 AM PHT

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