Higher risk of temperature-related death if global warming exceeds 2°C

The death rate linked to extreme temperatures will increase significantly under global warming of 2°C, finds a new report. Temperature-related mortality — where a death is directly linked to climate temperature — in England and Wales during the hottest days of the year will increase by 42% under a warming scenario of 2°C from pre-industrial levels. This means an increase from present-day levels of around 117 deaths per day, averaged over the 10 hottest days of the year, to around 166 deaths per day. The findings underline the importance of keeping global warming levels to below 2°C.