Climate-driven heat will have significant adverse effects on the garment manufacturing industry in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.
- The highest worker productivity-related economic losses from the heat are felt by those least able to bear them. In sectors such as garment manufacturing, transport, and retail trade, where wages can be lower than average, losses already amount to around 10% of income, according to a new report detailing the social and economic effects of climate-driven extreme heat through the prism of 12 cities.
The study: The report, titled Hot Cities, Chilled Economies: Impacts of Extreme Heat on Global Cities, explored 12 cities, spanning six continents, covering an urban population of more than 123 million.
- For this report, only a subset of the ways in which extreme heat can impact a city's economy and society were examined and appraises impacts in 'normal' vs. unusually warm years, meaning it provides a conservative view of the social and economic costs of heat.
- It did not look at impacts or costs to infrastructure, health care systems, reduced learning and education, or the loss resulting from business interruption.
- The study was conducted by the Adrienne-Arsht Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.
The overall findings: The heat stress in Dhaka impairs labour productivity more than any other city in the study.
- Low-income workers are especially exposed to heat: in sectors such as garment manufacturing, transport, and retail trade, losses already amount to around 10% of income. Losses are expected to be concentrated in sectors such as manufacturing and logistics, which already lose USD 1.5 billion (BDT 132 billion, or 9 percent of sectoral output) and USD 1.8 billion (BDT 158 billion, 10 percent of sectoral output), respectively. Losses in manufacturing are likely to be particularly high in sectors such as garment manufacturing or brick making, where proximity to machinery or ovens increases the temperature to which workers are exposed.
- Despite the already high temperatures and humidity of between 60% and 80% in Dhaka, climate change is set to make things substantially worse. In a typical year, the ten hottest days see average recorded temperatures greater than 30°C, which given the local humidity feels warmer than the human body.
- There is little respite during the night, with overnight lows regularly over 25°C, making it difficult for people to cool off and recover from high daytime temperatures.
- Without action to reduce emissions, conditions will worsen substantially: by 2050 current extremes are projected to become more than twice as common.
- Heat in Dhaka is concentrated in its urban core, including some informal settlements. Dhaka is subject to a strong urban heat island (UHI) effect due to its population density and lack of green space. Large and widespread hotspots within the city are more than 10°C higher than the surrounding countryside.
Extreme heat interventions: Actions to mitigate matters currently in progress include:
- Worker protection projects such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent’s FbF solution can be scaled up to provide broad-based social insurance against extreme heat for vulnerable workers.
- Projects such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent’s feasibility study on heat waves are working to formalise locally relevant and scientifically backed heat wave definitions that could underpin future public health and safety campaigns.
- The Million Cool Roofs challenge, which is a pilot study in Dhaka, has achieved significant cooling effects in schools, industrial buildings, and low-quality housing settlements through using reflective roof paint to reduce indoor temperatures.
