It’s been really hot this summer. June was the hottest month on record globally, and now scientists think that July will beat that record. They say that heatwaves will become more frequent and more intense as the overall temperature of the globe gets hotter. As that becomes the new normal, a whole range of industries are trying to figure out how to adapt and change the way they do business. FT climate correspondent Attracta Mooney recently wrote about this. She joins me now. Hi, Attracta.

Attracta Mooney

Hi, Marc. How are you?

Marc Filippino

Yeah, I’m doing all right. A little hot. So Attracta, why would extreme heat or heatwaves affect the economy?

Attracta Mooney

It affects it for a variety of reasons. The first one is probably the most obvious one, and it’s that it affects productivity. When it’s hot, it is much harder to work. You know how lethargic you feel when it’s really hot. There’s some figures out there that we’re actually probably by 2030, you’re going to lose 2 per cent of working hours or around 2 per cent of working hours due to extreme heat. And that’s because it’s either too hot to work or our productivity slows down because it is so hot.

Marc Filippino

What industries are most affected? I have to imagine that they have to do with physical labour, like construction. You know, it’s dangerous to do strenuous work like that out in the heat.

Attracta Mooney

Exactly that. So construction and agriculture are among the most affected, and that’s because people are working outside. And they’re most affected in terms of productivity, but they are also quite badly affected in terms of how they operate. So construction, lots of the materials used in construction don’t work as well in extreme heat. And at the same time, agriculture has the same problems. Crops become affected by drought, and we lose yields and it is?.?.?.?costs quite a lot to the economy.

Marc Filippino

Are there measures in place to protect workers when there are these extreme heat events?

Attracta Mooney

Not exactly. Some countries have started to do work on setting maximum temperatures for when workers can be outside in extreme heat. But that’s actually very rare. And there’s some more calls for maybe more maximum temperatures to be set in different countries so that you don’t have this exposure for workers. But there are other measures people are looking at, for example, working through the night or very early in the morning so that you’re not working in the hottest part of the day. And they’re also looking at you trying to use cooling systems or covers to make it less hot for people to be out or be out in the heat.

Marc Filippino

Attracta, what’s your takeaway from this reporting? What stuck with you after working on this piece?

Attracta Mooney

I think the thing that stuck with me is that the amount of accidents that happen in extreme heat. It really increases dramatically. And that’s because our brains just don’t work as well when we’re really hot, and that’s across various sectors. So it affects people who are working on site but also affects people who are working indoors. We’re just all more prone to accidents and not doing our jobs as well.

Marc Filippino

Attracta Mooney is a climate correspondent for the FT. Thanks, Attracta.