The countries experiencing the most significant changes in CDD were predominantly developing nations in Africa and South America. The Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Laos and Brazil were seeing the most significant increases in dangerously hot temperatures, according to the report.
There will be a significant rise in area-weighted mean CDDs per country, increasing by 524-560 CDDs, drastically increasing cooling needs per capita, the authors warned.
“As these shifts in CDDs continue, they are expected to place additional pressure on the socio-economic development of these countries, exacerbating existing challenges and hindering their growth and resilience,” the researchers wrote in the report.
They found that cooling needs were changing faster in the current decade as the world approached a 1.5°C global temperature rise, with CDD increases from 1-1.5 °C surpassing those expected between 1.5°C and 2°C.
Meanwhile, countries with colder climates will see a much larger relative change in uncomfortably hot days, more than doubling in some cases. As global warming reaches 2°C, uncomfortably hot days will increase by 100 per cent in Austria and Canada, 150 per cent in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland, 200 per cent in Norway and 230 per cent, compared to that observed during 2006-2016, when global warming touched 1°C.
This means that these countries will experience a significant decrease in HDDs, ranging from 554 to 850 HDDs, drastically reducing future heating needs per capita.
Built environment and infrastructure in these countries were predominantly designed for cold conditions; homes were built to maximise solar gains and minimise ventilation. Thus, even a moderate increase in temperature is likely to have disproportionately severe impacts compared with regions that have greater resources, adaptive capacity and embodied capital to manage heat, the findings showed.
