Children bear the brunt of climate change
“More than half of the children born in 2020 will face unprecedented exposure to heatwaves over their lifetime — even under a conservative projection for how climate change will unfold over the next 75 years. Under a more pessimistic forecast, that figure rises to 92%, compared with just 16% of those born in 1960. The study is among the first to pinpoint the generations and numbers of people that will experience an “unprecedented life” in terms of extreme heat, says climate scientist Wim Thiery.” Nature Briefing, 8 May 2025

Nature, 7 May 2025

How climate change will burden our children: data reveal a lifetime of extreme heat

Young people will be exposed to a number of heatwaves that no one would have experienced in pre-industrial times.

Just over half of the children born in 2020 will face unprecedented exposure to heatwaves over their lifetime — even under a conservative projection for how climate change will unfold over the next 75 years.

The figure rises to 92% of today’s five-year-olds if more pessimistic climate predictions come to pass, and compares with just 16% of people born in 1960 under any future climate scenario.