Climate change is accelerating health risks globally, with heat-related deaths rising sharply. A new report urges a coordinated emergency response to address the growing crisis.
Climate health risks accelerate
Ten years after the Paris Agreement, the harmful effects of climate change on health are progressing faster than the global response, according to Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown. The tenth edition of this report, compiled by 146 researchers from 30 countries, presents a worrying assessment of the growing health impacts of climate change.Call for sustainable response
Just days before COP31, the authors of the report urge moving beyond the ad hoc management of climate-related disasters to implement a sustainable response. This includes prevention, adapting health systems, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which have reached record levels in the atmosphere.Proposed emergency mechanism
Marina Romanello advocates for a "coordinated emergency response mechanism" between states, modeled on the mechanisms used by the World Health Organization (WHO) during pandemics. This approach would aim to address the escalating health impacts of climate change more systematically.Heat-related deaths rise sharply
The report highlights the human toll of climate change, including nearly 3 million heat-related deaths between 2016 and 2023. These deaths are worsening food insecurity and increasing the dangers posed by wildfire smoke, which are becoming more frequent and severe.Rising proportion of climate-linked deaths
Between the Paris Agreement in 2016 and 2023, 2.96 million heat-related deaths were attributed to climate change. The proportion of these deaths has accelerated, with 68.4% of annual heat-related deaths during this period linked to global warming, compared to 55% in the previous decade.Calculating climate-linked mortality
To determine the proportion of deaths attributable to global warming, researchers compiled heat-related death data from countries. They then subtracted the number of deaths that would have occurred without climate change, using a hypothetical scenario. This method was explained by Professor Ollie Jay from the University of Sydney.
