International. According to the latest report by the organization SeForAll (Sustainable Energy for All) 1 in 7 people, globally, are at high risk of not surviving the extreme heat due to lack of access to cooling. The report also revealed that this figure will be higher by 2030.
The report "Chilling Prospects: Sustainable Energy for All 2022" warns that this is the decisive decade to offer cooling solutions that are fast and sustainable. "Urgent action and investment is needed to protect the 1.2 billion people most at risk from extreme heat and lack of access to cold chains."
The same document ensures that access to refrigeration is the axis that allows food security worldwide, as well as the storage of medical supplies, which implies protecting the means to guarantee life and reduce heat-related deaths.
This report suggests that access to refrigeration is now recognized as an urgent global challenge. Moreover, achieving compliance with indicators 7.1.1 (population access to electricity) and 1.1 (eradication of extreme poverty) of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would save almost 500 million people who are at high risk from extreme heat by 2030, which is a 36% reduction of individuals at risk.
This annual "Chilling Outlook" report shows, in its previous submission, that the risks of extreme heat for the most vulnerable are increasing due to a lack of access to sustainable refrigeration.
It is important to note that, to give these results, which will come out in full in mid-July, SeForAll evaluated 76 countries. In addition, this paper also forecast that current trends will leave more people at high risk by the end of the decade (2030).
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for SEforALL, commented: "Refrigeration is a watershed issue for the Sustainable Development Goals and the environment. With one in seven people at risk from life-threatening temperatures or broken cold chains, neither people nor the planet can afford inaction on sustainable cooling."
Dr Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Rwanda, added: "Chilling Prospects once again provides interesting information on major sustainable refrigeration developments. I am proud to showcase Rwanda's innovative financing for consumers alongside ambitious regulations for refrigeration appliances, as well as the comprehensive work of the Kigali-based African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Refrigeration and Cold Chain and has a pan-African reach."
Risk to the south of the planet and megacities
In 2014, the World Health Organization predicted that 12,000 people would lose their lives annually due to heat waves. But in 2019, research for The Lancet showed that extreme heat caused the deaths of 356,000 people that year.
However, the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on adaptation, indicated that the risks of extreme heat are even greater in cities. By 2050, 68% of the world's population is expected to live in urban areas, according to which the number of megacities more than 10 million inhabitants would reach 43, many of them located in developing regions.
It is clear that fast-growing urban areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the vulnerability of poor households is compounded by air pollution, the urban heat island effect, limited access to a good quality built environment and key cooling infrastructure.
