Climate change hits low-income earners harder

Abby Mellick Lopes, Associate Professor, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, and Stephen Healy, Senior Research Fellow, Western Sydney University

Cost of living is a major focus in this election campaign, and yet political leaders have been unacceptably silent on the disproportionate impact of climate change on Australians with low incomes. This is particularly true for  Western Sydney, home to around 2.5 million people.

Over the last half century, the balance of Sydney’s social housing has been pushed to the west, where it can be up to 10℃ hotter than the breeze-cooled coast. Meanwhile, rapid housing development reduces existing tree canopy daily, further intensifying heat.

• Read the full story in The Conversation: Climate change hits low-income earners harder – and poor housing in hotter cities is a disastrous combination