Extreme weather events such as the devastating heatwaves and heavy downpours, which have caused widespread upheaval across the world so far this year, have once again highlighted the role of human-induced climate change. Against this backdrop, the social media (Twitter and Reddit) conversations around ‘heatwave’ have witnessed a substantial rise in July, reveals the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The UK has experienced the highest ever temperature in July, while France, Portugal, Spain, and other Southern European countries are battling intense wildfires. At the same time, the US, Japan, China and Australia also reported record high temperatures. Several Twitter influencers opine that the unprecedented smoldering heatwaves will cap the global economic growth.

Smitarani Tripathy, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Majority of the influencers are of the opinion that the prevailing heatwave conditions will subdue the global economic growth as the nations are already reeling under the effect of soaring inflation. Several influencers have cited drop in crop production due to dry land as one of the major causes of heatwaves. The scorching heatwaves are likely to exacerbate drought in many regions.”

Alexander J. Stein, Agriculture Economist, tweets:

“Half the EU territory is at risk of severe #drought. The unprecedented #heatwave may negate gains in food production needed to plug the gap left by the war. Lack of moisture in the #soil causes vegetation stress, affecting #yields of crops: https://euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/severe-drought-could-cancel-out-gains-in-eu-food-production/ #foodsecurity”

Many influencers also warn about the risk of electricity shortages due to the sweltering heatwaves, which will ignite the consumption of power and may lead to a further rise in prices.

Kees van der Leun, Energy Transition Specialist at Common Futures, says:

“Half of France’s nuclear reactors is currently out of operation due to extended maintenance, corrosion etc. Now 5 of its nuclear power plants have to reduce their production due to the heatwave. This contributes to the very high power prices early next week: around 600 €/MWh. ”

Tripathy concludes: “As the severity of heatwaves is expected to increase in the future due to climate change, several influencers advised to switch on to renewable energy to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, a necessary step to address climate change.”

Mike Hudema, Director Of Communications at CanopyPlanet, opines:

“Keep in mind, the heatwaves, wildfires, droughts happening across the world are within “safe” climate change of 1.2°C warming. We are on course to double that. There is no time to waste. Break free from fossil fuels. #ActOnClimate #climate #energy #renewables #GreenNewDeal”