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Rosa Pietroiusti leads study revealing 560 million children face extra month of heat stress annually due to climate change

A new international study led by Rosa Pietroiusti has revealed that 560 million children under the age of 10 are experiencing at least one additional month of heat stress each year due to human-caused climate change. Published in the journal Science Advances, the research highlights that children are disproportionately exposed to dangerous humid heat compared to older age groups, with 43 percent of children in this bracket facing at least 30 additional days of heat stress annually. This exposure is particularly severe in tropical regions and developing countries, where populations are younger and infrastructure for cooling is often limited. In India, for example, 145 million children are affected, with projections suggesting that 96 percent of children could face an extra month of heat stress under a 2-degree Celsius warming scenario. The study emphasizes that children are physiologically more vulnerable to heat because their bodies heat up faster and regulate temperature less efficiently than adults. Researchers call for urgent action to reduce fossil-fuel emissions and increase climate finance for developing countries to protect the most vulnerable generations.

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