Looming danger: Millions more people are being exposed to dangerous temperatures for longer periods of the year. — Reuters
The impacts of climate change on Singapore’s weather are already being felt, with scientists estimating that the Republic experienced 122 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024.
Without climate change, the country would experience only four such days, found a new climate report published on Dec 27.
The report defined dangerous heat days as days when mean temperatures were hotter than the warmest 10% of temperatures observed over the 1991 to 2020 period.
The latest report was done by scientific research organisation World Weather Attribution and Climate Central, a non-profit group of scientists and communicators.
Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, can happen naturally, but are made worse by climate change.
Climate change today is driven by ever-increasing amounts of planet-warming gases being released into the atmosphere from human activities, such as burning fossil fuels.
For the study, the researchers relied on temperature data from 220 countries and territories from the ERA5 dataset, which is produced by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the bloc’s earth observation programme.
The researchers compared the temperatures in each location in 2024 with the temperature trends observed in the preceding decades, between 1991 and 2020.
The Singapore data was extrapolated from the data for the broader South-East Asian region. The mean daily average temperature across South-East Asia in 2024 was 27.4°.
This is 0.8°C hotter than the average year from 1991 to 2020.
When global temperatures are considered, the study found that climate change added 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024, compared with the 1991 to 2020 baseline, for the average person.
But 18 of the 20 countries that experienced the most added days of dangerous heat – referring to more than 130 additional dangerous heat days – were small island developing states like the Solomon Islands.
Across data taken in 220 countries and territories, the highest number of dangerous heat days added by climate change is 173 in tiny Micronesian island Nauru, which sits near the equator, and the lowest is South Korea’s 12 days.
The latest report comes after the declaration by climate scientists from C3S that 2024 is the hottest year on record.
It is also the first year in which average global temperatures rose more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial period.
Scientists have warned that if warming exceeds 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, climate change impacts could be catastrophic. The previous hottest year on record was 2023.
In 2023, Singapore experienced 93 additional dangerous heat days and would have experienced only six dangerous heat days in a world without global warming, said Climate Central research associate Joseph Giguere.
Scientists involved in the latest report said that climate change is exposing millions more people to dangerous temperatures for longer periods of the year, and if not tackled, the number of dangerous heat days will continue to increase each year and threaten public health.
To tackle this, the report proposed a faster shift away from burning fossil fuels, improvements in early warning systems, real-time reporting of deaths caused by heat and international finance to help developing countries become more resilient. — The Straits Times/ANN
