Losses caused by extreme heat hitting Warsaw could double within 50 years, a report by the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) has claimed.
The PIE report, entitled “The impact of climate change on the Polish economy on the example of selected provincial cities”, analysed the effects of a heat wave that hit Warsaw in 2015 and reduced the city’s GDP by 0.3-0.5%.
Heat waves reduce labour productivity as people struggle with high ambient temperatures, which not only affect physical work, but also cognitive and office work.
Research into the 2015 heat wave showed that productivity losses translated into costs of PLN 1.1 billion (EUR 250 million), or about PLN 110 million (EUR 24 million) a day.
The report noted that heat waves were intensifying, and that would increase the scale of the problems. The experts predict that in the absence of measures to reduce their consequences, “greater productivity losses should be expected”.
PIE wrote that “over the next 50 years, the real value of losses in Warsaw alone will double.”
The report said that the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy recommended keeping office temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius for appropriate working conditions.
“Similarly, NASA estimates that productivity is greatest at room temperature and begins to decline as soon as the temperature exceeds 24 degrees,” it added. (PAP/Business World Magazine)
