Health impacts of climate change already visible: the example of heat waves

Climate change, loss of biodiversity and environmental degradation affect the public health. In particular, the increase and persistence of high temperature spells could put a large part of the population at serious risk, and drastically limit human activity. Yet, heat waves are underrepresented in analyses of extreme weather events, and particularly in economic assessments. This lack of study, combined with the low risk perception of the population, limits the will to implement adaptation measures even though the impacts are avoidable. This article presents the evolution of the global economic impact of the health effects of heat waves in France between 1974 and 2020. (authors)