Insuring Against Extreme Heat Navigating Risks in a Warming World 2025

heat exhaustion, are well known, but the significant mental health and psychological consequences are less widely recognized. In some cases, extreme heat can lead to depression, panic attacks and even suicide.15 Concomitant trends, such as population growth, ageing and urbanization, further exacerbate the impact of extreme heat on human health.16 In communities most vulnerable to global warming – particularly those in tropical regions and in cities – rising temperatures are pushing people to the limit of human survival. This phenomenon is known as a “wet bulb temperature”, a measure of heat that considers air temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover and other key variables to more accurately gauge physiological stress caused by extreme heat. When wet bulb temperature is reached, the body can no longer release heat through sweat evaporation, which can lead to heat stress, organ failure or even death. These dangerous temperature levels are likely to be reached more regularly in the coming decades.17 Today, 2.4 billion workers (representing 70% of a global workforce of 3.4 billion) are exposed to excessive heat while on the job.18 Again, these impacts are not distributed evenly across the world – in Africa, 93% of workers are exposed to extreme heat, and in the Arabian Peninsula, over 83% of workers are exposed, while in North America, that number is only around 10%.19 Heat stress can lead to exhaustion, heatstroke and, in the long term, serious and debilitating chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness. The International Labour Organization (ILO) indicates that 25.6 million people are currently living with chronic kidney disease as a result of heat stress in the workplace.20 Economic impacts from heat-fuelled perils have increased drastically in recent years FIGURE 2 102030405060Billion euros (2022 prices)19800 Heatwaves, cold waves, droughts and forest fires 30-year moving averageStorms (including lightning and hail) and mass movements Floods 198219841986198819901992199419961998200020022004200620082010201220142016201820202022 Source: CarbonBrief. (2022). Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world. https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-weather-around-the-world/. Heat stress can lead to exhaustion, heatstroke and, in the long term, serious and debilitating chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness. Insuring Against Extreme Heat: Navigating Risks in a Warming World 7