Climate change is forcing millions of workers to toil at excessive heat, threatening a reduction in productivity, a report has revealed.
The United Nations released a report on April 28 stating countries severely affected by global warming have outdoor workers and manual laborers struggling to work under the sweltering heat, forcing them to slow down and take longer breaks that decrease their output.
"Already in the current situation, several percent of working hours can be lost in highly exposed regions," the report read. Working conditions exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) greatly affect an individual's health and capacity to work.
Saleemul Huq, head of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, is saddened that some people are forced to continue working under excessive heat, ignoring threats to their health just to make sure there is food on the table.
By 2030, global productivity loss is expected to hit $2 trillion annually.
At present, an estimated 4 billion people are living in areas highly exposed to global warming. Most exposed regions include Southern United States, Central America, Northern South America, the Caribbean, Southern Asia and North and West Africa.
West Africa has doubled its numbers of hot days each year. Since the 1960s, the region has an additional of 10 hot days every decade.
The report also noted that Kolkata, India has lost as much as 3 percent of its available daytime working hours because of severe heat.
The report came a few days after international leaders signed an accord in Paris to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The agreement is aimed to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but this does not assure that global warming would be solved. Even with the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, regions most exposed to climate change will still have an additional month of excessive heat by 2030.
Scientists are expecting a temperature rise of a minimum of 2 degrees Celsius, however. If people cannot reduce greenhouse emissions immediately, temperatures could top 4 degrees Celsius.
