Global scale mapping of unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes

Climate extremes such as heatwaves, river floods, droughts, crop failures, including aspects of wildfires and tropical cyclones, are increasingly attributable to anthropogenic climate change. Yet how this translates into unprecedented levels of extreme event exposure in one’s lifetime remains unclear. Here we show that, neglecting adaptation, many of today’s youth will experience unprecedented exposure to extremes during their lifetimes. For the events above, the share of people facing unprecedented lifetime exposure is projected to at least double from 1960 to 2020 birth cohorts under current mitigation policies aligned with a global warming pathway reaching 2.7 °C above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100. In a 1.5 °C pathway, ∼50% of people born in 2020 will experience unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves. If global warming reaches 3.5 °C by 2100, this rises 30 to ∼90% of this birth cohort. For the same cohort and warming pathway, ∼30% will live with unprecedented exposure to crop failures and ∼10% to river floods. Further, under current policies, two indicators of vulnerability show that the most vulnerable experience significantly more unprecedented exposure to heatwaves than the least vulnerable. Our results call for sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions to lower the burden of climate change on young generations