World Economic Forum: unbearable 60°C days will be experienced in our lifetime

In the next few decades, many areas on the planet will become inhospitable to human beings

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Summers could become too hot for human beings in the coming decades and we could live to experience unbearable 60°C days, a new report revealed.

The World Economic Forum report said that 2020 could be the hottest year yet on record as temperatures continue to soar.

Experts said Siberia and Europe were exceptionally warm this year, with temperatures 7°C higher on average.

Arctic sea ice was at record low levels for most of July while extreme heatwaves occurred in Australia, causing the worst bushfires yet known.

The month of June was the hottest since records began in 1850.

“This level of extreme heat would have been almost impossible in the absence of human-caused global warming,” the report said.

The report urged people around the globe to take action and prevent a dystopian future that will cause much of Portugal and Spain to become a desert region.

Florida could disappear, all insects would be extinct and the Arctic will be without ice in the summer months, all within 90 years, if climate change does not slow down, the report said.

WEF also released a video to illustrate the potential damage to the planet over the coming decades if we continue with “business as usual”.

2030s – Climate change related illnesses will kill 250,000 people each year

Within 10 years, the damage caused by climate change will have life-changing consequences for most of the planet, WEF experts said.

“Ice caps and crucial ice sheets will continue to melt, swelling sea levels by 20cm while 90 per cent of coral reefs will be threatened by human activity, while around 60 per cent will be highly endangered,” the video stated.

“Dwindling crop yields will have pushed 100 million more people into extreme poverty while climate-change-related illnesses will kill an extra 250,000 people each year.”

2040s – Mass migration as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand will be flooded

The predictions for the decade after get worse with temperatures expected to shoot past the 1.5°C Paris Agreement limit.

“Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand will be threatened by annual floods, sparking mass migration,” the video showed.

“Up to 8 per cent of the global population will have seen a severe reduction in water availability.”

WEF also predicted the Arctic would be ice-free during the summer months by the 2040s and sea levels would rise by 60cm in the Gulf of Mexico, which would lead to devastating storms.

2050s – temperatures will soar to 60°C

Climate change will get worse with time.

“In much of the world masks will be needed daily – not for disease prevention, but to protect your lungs from smog,” WEF said in its predictions for the 2050s.

"People will face 60°C temperatures for more than a 10th of the year while the north-east US will [experience] 25 major floods a year, up from one in 2020."

Up to 140 million people are expected to be displaced by 2050 because of food and water insecurity as well as extreme weather.

2100s – Florida will disappear and south Spain will become a desert

WEF said the effects of climate change would make the world a very different place by 2100.

“Rising sea levels will have rendered coastlines unrecognisable, and Florida will largely disappear,” the WEF said.

“Coral reefs will have largely vanished, taking with them a quarter of the world’s fish habitats.

“Insects will have also been consigned to history, causing massive crop failures due to the lack of pollinators.”

WEF also projected southern regions of Spain and Portugal would become desert areas, causing millions to be tipped into food and water insecurity.