One BILLION people will die from climate change by 2100, study claims

Scientists have made a terrifying prediction about the future of humanity on this planet.

According to experts in Canada one billion people – one-eighth of the current world population – will die from climate change if global warming reaches or exceeds 2°C by 2100.

Most of those dying will be poorer people living in the developing world, they say, while those contributing to the mass fatalities will likely be the top executives of multi-billion dollar oil and gas companies.

Deaths will be caused by various catastrophes including floods due to melted ice, forest fires, diseases, severe weather conditions such as drought and many more.

The study’s authors are calling on governments and policymakers to urgently ban the use of fossil fuels such as coal and gas, as they release massive amounts of planet-warming gases into the air.

The researchers say deaths of 1 billion are “similar to involuntary or negligent homicide.”

The study’s leader, Dr. Joshua M. Pearce of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, said such mass deaths are “clearly unacceptable.”

“It’s actually kind of scary, especially for our kids,” he said.

Global warming is a matter of life or death for a billion people.

“Almost everyone agrees that every human life is valuable, regardless of age, cultural or racial background, gender or financial means.

‘That is why the energy transition will have to change much, much faster from now on.’

Greenhouse gases, including CO2 and methane, are released when fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas are burned to power cars, planes, homes and factories.

When these gases enter the atmosphere, they trap heat and contribute to global warming.

As a result, the ice in the polar regions is already melting and this meltwater ends up in the oceans, causing a gradual rise in sea levels and severe flooding.

Scientists believe that the people most at risk of dying from rising sea levels are those living in coastal areas, who will be the first to be permanently submerged.

But global warming will also kill in other ways, according to Dr. Pearce, such as the effects of heat waves.

We have already seen higher average temperatures worldwide, including the hottest month on record and the hottest temperature on record in the oceans.

“Climate change causes human deaths can be broken down into direct, intermediate, indirect and their interactions,” Dr Pearce told MailOnline.

“Direct lethal effects of climate change include heat waves, which have already caused thousands of deaths from a combination of heat and humidity, so that the human body cannot physically cool itself with perspiration.

Intermediate causes of death include crop failures, droughts, floods, extreme weather events, forest fires and rising sea levels.

“Failed harvests in particular can exacerbate hunger and famine in the world.”

Pearce teamed up with Richard Parncutt of the University of Graz in Austria for the new study, published in the journal Energies.

To arrive at their prediction, the duo conducted a major review of more than 180 previously published articles from the scientific literature.

They compared different approaches to estimating future human deaths from climate change, at any scale or location.

According to the results, a measure known as the “1,000-ton rule” is a fairly accurate way to predict human mortality from climate.

The 1,000 ton rule states that one future premature death is caused every time about 1,000 tons of fossil carbon are burned.

However, the rule is ‘best estimate in the order of magnitude’ and the reality, according to Dr Pearce, could be more or less one person per 1,000 tons.

“The number of deaths caused will probably be between one-tenth of a person and ten people per thousand tons,” he said.

The academic thinks “mostly richer people” will be responsible for the deaths of a billion mostly poorer people in the next century, though he couldn’t say what proportion of those billions will be poor.

“Most of the people who will die from climate change are poor people living in the developing world,” he told MailOnline.

“Those who earn the average income in a developed country will be able to buy their survival – for example by moving, by providing food to the poor, by being able to pay for air conditioning.”

The new study suggests immediate action to bring about a dramatic drop in CO2 emissions so the gloomy predictions don’t come true.

These include a complete replacement of high carbon emitting fossil fuels – namely coal, oil and natural gas – with renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, geothermal and solar energy.

He also wants to see the development of CO2 capture and storage technologies along the lines of what the UK government is currently considering.

Dr. Pearce believes that phasing out fossil fuels in favor of renewables is plausible, even for countries like India that rely so heavily on them.

“Even if we just look at it economically, India, for example, is able to produce solar energy more cheaply than any other source in history,” he told MailOnline.

‘The transition to sustainable energy should be seen as an investment.

“By investing money now in solar and other renewables, India and basically all countries will see economic returns over time, plus that means less pollution and all the many climate change issues.”