by Oliver Milman, The Guardian

Deaths are predicted for any year that was the warmest for 30 years, a dire scenario that would be avoided if the world stuck to Paris climate agreement

Thousands of heat-related deaths in major US cities could be avoided if rising global temperatures are curbed, new research has found.

On current global heating trends, thousands of people are set to perish due to the heat in some extreme years across 15 major US cities, in an analysis by a team of British and American researchers.

Once the average worldwide temperature rises to 3C (5.4F) above the pre-industrial period nearly 5,800 people are expected to die in New York City during particularly hot years, more than 2,500 are forecast to die in Los Angeles and more than 2,300 lives will be lost in Miami, all during years of extreme heat.

These deaths are predicted for any year that was the warmest for 30 years.

This dire scenario would probably be avoided if the world was able to keep to its commitments made in the Paris climate agreement, where governments pledged to limit the global temperature rise to 2C, with an aspiration to keep the increase to 1.5C.

Kristie Ebi, Professor of Global Health and Director of the UW Center for Health and the Global Environment is quoted in this story.

Read the entire article at The Guardian, and related stories at USA Today, U.S. News, The Seattle Times, My Northwest and UW News.