A study published Friday revealed that heatwaves fueled by human-caused climate change have cost the global economy trillions of dollars over the past 30 years, with the world’s poorest countries—and those least responsible for the climate emergency—bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.

“The regions with the lowest incomes globally are the ones that suffer most from these extreme heat events.”

The study, published in Science Advances, reached three key conclusions. First, “increased extreme heat intensity significantly decreases economic growth in relatively warm tropical regions and weakly affects it in relatively cool midlatitude regions.” Second, “anthropogenic climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of these economically consequential heat extremes.” Therefore—and thirdly—”the effects of climate change on extreme heat have amplified underlying inequality, disproportionately harming low-income, low-emitting regions, with major emitters shouldering primary responsibility for billions of dollars of losses in the tropics.”

According to the publication:

Human-caused increases in heat waves have depressed economic output most in the poor tropical regions least […]