The economic hit that comes with extreme heat

"It's 45 or 46 degrees inside the gorilla, and tourists don’t go out during the day" - Heatwaves could cost southern Europe dearly 

“If it’s 40 degrees in the street then it’s 45 or 46 inside the gorilla,” Freddy Molina tells CGTN.

He comes from Colombia, and as an immigrant without the documents to work legally, he has to do what he can to feed his family, including three children, in Spain and back home.

Like wearing a giant gorilla costume in the boiling heat of a Madrid summer, making people laugh, selling hugs, and hoping for tips.

"I’m stuck inside and it’s hard to breathe. You get dehydrated, headaches, nausea and feel like vomiting. I’ve been here since 8am and I’ve earned maybe five dollars, it’s hard.

"The problem in the heat is that the tourists don’t come out during the day, because of the heatwaves, the sun. I do this for my family, to work and survive, otherwise we’d be on the streets dying of hunger."

It’s one consequence of the heat that is having far-reaching consequences.

A 'heat dome' that smothered southern Europe in record-breaking heatwaves is beginning to subside, but cities across the region that weren’t built for this kind of heat are now trying to adapt to this new normal, while one report also says this could be very bad for business.

A recent Allianz Research report predicts that heatwaves, droughts and wildfires are having far-reaching repercussions and Spain could lose as much as 1.4 percent of GDP due to extreme summer heat.

Compare that to a 0.1 percent cost to the German economy.

China, Spain, Italy and Greece could each see GDP losses of nearly one percentage point due to the current heatwaves, the Allianz Research report said, while the U.S. may face a decline of around 0.6 percentage points and France of up to a third of a point.

Globally, the heatwaves translate to a GDP reduction of 0.6 percentage points this year, Allianz Research said.

Extreme temperatures also reduce labour productivity, with the International Labour Organization forecasting that heat stress will reduce total potential working hours worldwide by 2.2% by 2030.

Coolcations

Spain’s hospitality industry is feeling it too.

José Antonio Aparicio works with the Madrid Hostelry Association and told CGTN:

"Madrid is a city with a lot of public space and outdoor leisure and seating, tables in the sun, and all that consumption, particularly in the hottest and harshest hours of the day, from four o'clock in the afternoon to seven o' clock, is practically reduced to zero and is limited only to the interior establishments."

'Coolcations,' is a new tourism buzzword as foreign trips to cooler destinations like Sweden and Norway have jumped by up to 22%, and that could be a sign of things to come.

Deaths caused by first heatwave of the summer in Spain

Beyond the economic cost, heatwaves take a human toll too, a new June record high of 46 degrees was recorded on Saturday in southern Spain and Southern Europe is on the front lines of the climate emergency.

Over the past week one municipal worker named Montse Aguilar died from heat-related complications after her shift cleaning the streets in Barcelona, and on Wednesday two people died in a wildfire in Lleida, Catalonia, northeastern Spain.

Tragedies that have caused an outcry, and calls for greater adaptation during these ever more frequent episodes of extreme heat.

Freddy takes out a wet towel, pats down the sweat on his face, and tells us there isn’t much choice but to be resilient and try and stay cool.

"We're immigrants here, we come from another country to try and help our families, because in our country, things are tough. We have to work illegally and we get rejected from most jobs, so what can I do? I have to survive however I can."

The survival of much more is already at stake in this worsening climate emergency.