In the future, only the rich will be able to escape the unbearable heat from climate change. In Iraq, it’s already happening
Baghdad offers a troubling glimpse into a future where only the wealthy are equipped to escape the effects of climate change, Richard Hall writes
independent.co.uk
“It’s death,” says 17-year-old Muhammad, as he swelters behind the counter at the hardware store where he works in central Baghdad.
The temperature is 48C and there is no escaping it. The electricity is out in his neighbourhood and he can’t afford a generator to power an air conditioner. And it’s more of the same at home.
“I wake up during the night covered in sweat,” he says, in a low voice. “It’s exhausting. The heat makes you feel awful.”
Iraq is used to the stifling summer heat, but the few tools its residents have at their disposal to stay cool are becoming unaffordable for the country’s poor.
At a time when European countries are enduring some of the highest temperatures ever recorded, and as extreme weather becomes more common, Baghdad offers a troubling glimpse into a future where only the wealthy are equipped to escape the effects of climate change.
A United Nations report released last month warned that the world is heading for a “ climate apartheid” scenario, “where the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer”.
In Baghdad, that is already a reality. On 48C days, which are now coming earlier in the year, air conditioners are the most effective way of staying cool. But an electricity crisis in the country is putting even that essential tool out of reach to low-income families.
The crisis – caused by a combination of corruption, mismanagement and a creaking national grid – has exacerbated the country’s energy divide. The result is a huge gap between electricity supply and demand, especially in the summer. A diesel generator can be used to meet some of the shortfall, but running an air conditioner from a generator is a luxury only a few can afford.
“The electricity is completely unpredictable,” says Abu Ahmed, a metal shop owner just down the street from Muhammad. “Sometimes it comes on at 10am and lasts all day, sometimes it’s only one hour. The air conditioner is out of the question without the government grid.”
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