Construction workers in France can be shifted to start earlier to avoid the hottest hours of the day
Extreme temperatures could end up taking some heat out of the already struggling European economy — both now and in the future.
Analysts at Allianz said last month that by 2030, the cumulative GDP losses could reach between 5% and 7% in the countries most exposed to rising temperatures.
A separate study by Climate Analytics, released on Wednesday, said that combined heat-and-drought events are already making Europeans poorer, reducing average household incomes by almost 3% across the continent.
The study says that if temperatures rise by 2.7°C by 2100 — a likely scenario —the average European household will see its income fall by 27%. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C, the Paris Agreement commitment, would restrict the loss to 7%.
Economic losses are tied to a wide range of heat impacts. Infrastructure can be damaged in extreme temperatures, for example, and agriculture and manufacturing can be disrupted because machines are calibrated to operate in specific temperatures.
Workers are also suffering.
“Less sleep and broken sleep are associated with a drop in work performance and productivity, an increase in accidents, lower school test scores … a decline in mental health, worsened cognitive function, and an increase in impulsive behaviours,” Laurence Wainwright from the University of Oxford said.
He added that test scores drop by 15% in a room of students with a temperature of 82.4 Fahrenheit (28 Celsius) compared to 64.4 Fahrenheit (18 Celsius).
The International Labour Organization estimates that a worker’s performance begins to drop once temperatures reach above 75-79 degrees Fahrenheit (24–26 Celsius) and plummet 50% at 91-93 Fahrenheit (33–34 Celsius).
But those numbers stand only when “moderate” work is considered. The statistics are much worse for the construction sector, where productivity declines by 30–40% as soon as temperatures reach 86 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius).
