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Posted: 2021-09-02T22:10:14Z | Updated: 2021-09-02T22:10:14Z

In the coming decades, extreme heat could kill tens of thousands of Americans each year if significant action isnt taken to combat the climate crisis, according to a new report.

The report released Tuesday by the Adrienne-Arsht Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, which studies climate changes impacts, found that nearly all U.S. counties will be affected by extreme heat in the coming years, disproportionately impacting Black and Latinx people.

Extreme heat could cause nearly 60,000 excess deaths per year by 2050, per the report.

While under existing conditions, about 8,500 deaths annually can be attributed to extreme heat, without action to mitigate or adapt to climate change, such deaths will increase more than sixfold in the next 30 years, with most heat deaths in Arizona, California and Texas.

Currently, about 16.5 million people in the U.S. or 5% of the country experience 100+ days each year above 90 degrees. By 2050, without significant action, over 130 million people or 30% of the U.S. population would live in 90+ degree heat for over 100 days.

Extreme heat disproportionately impacts Black and Latinx workers, who experience about 35 to 45 days with temperatures above 90, per the report. By contrast, white workers experience about 25 to 30 such days.

Extreme heat is killing Americans, Kathy Baughman McLeod, director of the Arsht-Rock Resilience Center, said in a release. These numbers represent a red hot call to action.