Urban heat islands have a health cost, according to Swiss study
The health cost of urban heat islands in Europe is comparable to that of air pollution, according to a Swiss study.
The financial cost amounts to CHF180 per adult per year for the summer effect of heat islands, according to the study released by the federal technology institute EPFL in Lausanne.
“Our research shows that heat islands aren’t just about people feeling too hot in the summer,” says Gabriele Manoli, the study’s corresponding author. “They also have significant adverse effects on human health, leading to increased cardiovascular and respiratory risks, for instance, and reducing overall life expectancy.”
More
Climate change: Swiss cities combat heat islands
The EPFL research, published in the journal Nature Communications, analysed the situation in 85 European cities. Carried out over three years, it also takes into account the protective effect of heat islands during the winter, an aspect that has been little explored until now, as the university also emphasises in its press release.
The scientists found that, for example, the urban heat island of Geneva can cause four additional heat-related deaths per 100,000 residents per year – but can prevent 3.4 cold-related deaths.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.