Researchers from Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) are now calling on policymakers and fellow scientists to not forget the countryside when formulating solutions to combat the damaging effects of climate change.
Researchers from Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) are now calling on policymakers and fellow scientists to not forget the countryside when formulating solutions to combat the damaging effects of climate change.
Professor Prashant Kumar, Director of GCARE, said:
“Heatwaves are getting deadlier, even in Britain. We already knew that the urban heat island effect exacerbates the problem in cities, but now we also have proof that people living in less built-up areas are also threatened.”
The research examined mortality and maximum daily temperatures across 38 years – from 1981 and 2018 – in Southeast England and Aberdeenshire.
The GCARE team found that people living in the Southeast of England are now seven per cent more likely to die prematurely when the temperature rises significantly (about 6 degrees Centigrade) above 26.5 degrees Centigrade. In Aberdeenshire, the risk of dying prematurely increases by four per cent, compared to the Southeast of England, when the temperature increases by just two degrees from 24.5 degrees C to 26.7 degrees C.
Read more at: University of Surrey
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