Global warming causes the loss of 23 trillion working hours annually
The well-known science journal Nature Communications published a research article last December (2021) on the effects of global warming on working people. The joint study, entitled “Increased labor losses and decreased adaptation potential in a warmer world,”
Researchers from several well-known universities in the United States, including Stanford University, Duke University, and the University of Washington, have conducted the study.
According to the article, Simultaneous warmth and humidity in the environment are harmful to the human body. Usually, in hot weather, the body sweats.
Dry sweat reduces the chances of the body cooling down quickly. Farmers and workers are working under the open sky face various hot and humid weather complications, and their productivity decreases. They get sick repeatedly. Illness also creates the risk of death.
The article also gives an account of the loss of working hours due to sweltering weather. Bangladesh ranks 5th in the list of top 10 countries regarding per capita loss of labor hours.
Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Gambia, Thailand, Senegal, Ghana, and Brunei are the top 10 countries in terms of per capita labor hour loss.
Large numbers of Bangladeshi expatriate workers work in Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, and Brunei. As a result, part of the loss of labor hours in those countries is the loss of Bangladeshi workers.
The study reveals an average of 22,800 crore working hours’ losses every year due to overheating. The annual loss in Bangladesh is 1,400 crore-labor hours.
The per capita loss is 254 working hours. This calculation has done by analyzing the data for the previous two decades until 2020.
Nature’s article reveals several reasons for the loss of working hours. These include shortness of breath, frequent need for rest, illness, etc.
If proper steps do not curb global warming, global warming could increase by 1 degree Celsius by 2037. Moreover, by 2051, it expects to increase by 2 degrees Celsius.
