Children born in 2020 will face ‘unprecedented exposure’ to climate extremes

Children born in 2020 will face “unprecedented exposure” to extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts and wildfires, even if warming is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures.

That is according to a new study, published in [Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08907-1), which calculates the number of unprecedented extreme events that people born in different decades and countries might  live through.

Using a case study focused on Brussels, the researchers find that people born in 2020 will experience an “unprecedented” 11 heatwaves in their lifetime – even if global warming is limited to 1.5C by the end of the century.

In contrast, in a pre-industrial climate, a person living in the Belgian capital would likely experience just three such heatwaves, according to the study.

More than half of children born in 2020 – around 62 million people – will experience “unprecedented lifetime exposure” to heatwaves, even if warming is limited to 1.5C, the study finds. 

However, this number nearly doubles to 111 million under a scenario where warming hits 3.5C.

The study also analyses crop failures, river floods, tropical cyclones, wildfires and droughts. 

The research “helps the climate community build new narratives that better clarify the impacts [of climate change] on younger generations and vulnerable populations”, one expert who was not involved in the study tells Carbon Brief.

And here I am wishing for more heatwaves. Give me allll the sun! Thank you! ☀️

Not to be bleak or pessimistic but only about 6% of the worlds top scientists believe we’ll meet the 1.5 limit. Most now expect a 2.5 increase instead.

People also don’t really care; it’s hard enough getting them to vote in their own best interests let alone having them actually consider climate change as an issue. I’m sure we’ve all seen it, countless people either not caring or even denying that climate change is actually happening.

On top of this, apparently scientists are no longer a reliable source to some. We’re refusing to acknowledge fact-based evidence and choosing to ignore the scientific community at large.

In short: world’s gone mad.

Awesome. My kid was born in 2021, so he’ll be fine, right? Right?