Heat waves reduce Warsaw's GDP, and it could get worse in years to come
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A heat wave in 2015 reduced Warsaw's GDP by 0.3-0.5 percent. Experts from the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) believe that if we don't take climate change seriously, the value of productivity losses in the Polish capital caused by heat could double in 50 years. The report also reveals that over 500 people aged 60+ died in the year following the heat wave.
PIE studied one of the longest heat waves in Poland, which occurred in August 2015. In their calculations, experts also took into account the number of people working in Warsaw in 2015, which was about 1 million people and at the same time 54.9 percent of the capital's population. They analyzed the temperature and loss of activity in each working hour from 7:00 to 19:00.
“The average loss of productivity in these hours was 26 percent. With these assumptions and with an average vacation scenario, we get costs of around PLN 1.1 billion, or around PLN 110 million per day,” said the Polish Economic Institute.
