Climate change: Increasing heat reduces productivity
When temperatures rise, productivity at the workplace drops. This has economic consequences: According to new studies, this could soon cost the world $2 trillion a year.
As heat increases, productivity at work drops. That has implications: In Southeast Asia alone, new studies say, between 15 and 20% of annual work hours are already lost in workplaces exposed to heat. That's because the higher the temperatures, the slower the movements - and the less productive the worker.
In the future, these numbers could increase dramatically worldwide, report the Studiespresented at a UN forum in Kuala Lumpur: By 2030, researchers say, costs due to lost productivity will grow to as much as US$ two trillion.
Asian countries are particularly affected: for example, the heat is expected to cost China and India 450 billion each, and Indonesia, Malysia and Thailand are also among the countries losing over 150 billion US$.
"Far too little attention has been paid to the effect that heat has on daily life and especially on work," study leader Tord Kjellström tells British newspaper the Independent. "The body adapts to the heat to protect itself and slows down. This can cost individual countries many billions in a short period of time."
