Greater increases in temperature extremes in low versus high income countries

Abstract

It is commonly expected that the world's lowest income countries will face some of the worst impacts of global warming, despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions. Using global atmospheric reanalyses we show that the world's lowest income countries are already experiencing greater increases in the occurrence of temperature extremes compared to the highest income countries, and have been for over two decades. Not only are low income countries less able to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, but their typically equatorial location predisposes them to lower natural temperature variability and thus greater changes in the occurrence of temperature extremes with global warming. This aspect of global warming is well known but overlooked in current international climate policy agreements and we argue that it is an important factor in reducing inequity due to climate impacts.