LHGC Research

Led by the University of New South Wales, Oxford University, Australian National University and Monash University, this project aims to develop a global early warning system for lethal humidity using machine learning and seasonal forecasting. It will produce forecasts relevant to vulnerable cities and provide quantitative estimates of atmospheric warming from CO2 emissions.

Led by UC Berkeley, this research assesses how lethal humidity affects livestock, with implications for food security, agricultural economies and cultures globally. This will inform humid heat vulnerability and threshold calculations for integration into global species distribution data and humid heat forecasts.

Led by the University of Cambridge, this research will investigate worst-case societal outcomes of lethal humidity, from direct human mortality to conflict, mass displacement, societal collapse and other catastrophic scenarios which are comparatively less well understood. This work will focus on assessing pathways to worst-case global scenarios from lethal humidity through a horizon scan process.

Led by Climate Analytics, the project is developing a framework to improve the scientific basis for attribution of extreme heat events in the Global South to human-induced climate change. The framework will integrate GHG emissions allocation methodology, extreme event attribution methodology, and socio-economic impact assessments.

Led by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, this project will quantify and raise awareness about the connections between climate hazards and lethal humidity, and their cascading social, economic, and political consequences.

Led by the Salata Institute for Climate & Sustainability at Harvard University, studies are examining the impacts of heat and humidity on at-risk women in South Asia, with the aim of developing methods for downscaling heat and humidity exposure estimates and estimating excess mortality rates.

Led by the University of Sydney and UNSW, this project aims to deepen understanding of human physiological tolerance to extreme humid heat, with a focus on older populations. It will develop new models of heat stress and tolerance, improve the accuracy of wet-bulb temperature projections, and integrate these into climate models to help industries quantify climate risk.

Led by the University of Cambridge, this project will establish a gender-specific mortality database for India, quantifying the impacts of lethal heat and humidity on women and identifying socio-economic and cultural factors impacting vulnerability. It will develop recommendations for gender-inclusive heat action plans and policies to help mitigate impacts of climate-driven heat stress.