Paris Agreement has curbed deadly heating, but not by enough DW 10/16/2025

"Heat is the deadliest type of extreme weather, yet it often gets overshadowed by more dramatic threats like floods and storms. Even small temperature rises can wreak havoc on plants, animals, and humans. Yet climate change is making heat waves hotter and more likely. Every year, heat claims around half a million lives, and rising temperatures are pushing critical ecosystems including coral reefs to the brink."

"Adopted in 2015, the Paris Agreement united 196 countries in a pledge to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and to pursue efforts to cap the rise at 1.5 C. The targets are measured against pre-industrial levels, before widespread fossil fuel use began altering the planet's climate. Global warming is currently at around 1.4C above that benchmark. And if countries' current pledges to cut emissions are met, the world would be on track for at least 2.6C of warming by century's end. That would see an additional 57 hot days compared to today's climate."

""We are still not seeing the highest possible ambition and that is obviously a huge problem," said Friederike Otto, a scientist who works with WWA to study the links between climate change and extreme weather. "It is a problem that will be paid for with the lives and livelihoods of the poorest people in the world, in every country.""

Meeting current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions could prevent an extra 57 deadly hot days per year compared to a world without the Paris Agreement. Heat is the deadliest type of extreme weather and often receives less attention than floods and storms. Small temperature rises harm plants, animals, and humans, and climate change is making heat waves hotter and more frequent. Heat currently causes around half a million deaths annually and threatens critical ecosystems such as coral reefs. Global warming stands near 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels; current pledges point to roughly 2.6°C by century's end without stronger mitigation.

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