Global temperature exceeding 20 C may cause 1 bn deaths

Toronto If global warming reaches or exceeds two degrees Celsius by 2100, it will lead to the death of roughly one billion mainly poorer humans over the next century, warned a study.

The study led by University of Western Ontario in Canada called for aggressive energy policies needed to decrease carbon emissions and minimise loss of lives.

Researchers noted that the oil and gas industry, which includes many of the most profitable and powerful businesses in the world, is directly and indirectly responsible for more than 40 per cent of carbon emissions.

The emissions majorly impact the lives of billions of people, many living in the world’s most remote and low-resourced communities.

“Such mass death is clearly unacceptable. It’s pretty scary really, especially for our children,” said lead author Joshua Pearce, Professor at Western.

The study, published in the journal Energies, is based on a review of more than 180 articles from scientific literature

The team found the peer-reviewed literature on the human mortality costs of carbon emissions converged on the “1000-tonne rule,” which is an estimate that one future premature death is caused every time approximately 1,000 tonnes of fossil carbon are burned.

“If you take the scientific consensus of the 1000-tonne rule seriously, and run the numbers, anthropogenic global warming equates to a billion premature dead bodies over the next century. Obviously, we have to act. And we have to act fast," Pearce said.