Imma Perfetto
Cosmos science journalist
A new report in the influential Lancet medical journal finds people around the world are facing imminent, record-breaking threats to their wellbeing, health, and survival due to “inadequate and unjust” action on climate change.
Published today, The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change provides the most up-to-date assessment of the links between health and climate change at global, regional, and national levels.
It found that 10 of 15 indicators monitoring climate changeelated health threats reached “concerning” new records: from exposure to heat, extreme weather events, particulate matter, the increased transmission of deadly infectious disease, and more.
The findings indicate that while “substantial financial resources are being allocated to activities that harm health and perpetuate a fossil fuel-based economy” the funding for potentially lifesaving climate change adaptation and mitigation remains scarce.
“This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet in our 8 years of monitoring,” warns Dr Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London, UK.
“Once again, last year broke climate change records – with extreme heat waves, deadly weather events, and devastating wildfires affecting people around the world. No individual or economy on the planet is immune from the health threats of climate change.”
It found that in 2023, people were exposed to an unprecedented 50 more days of health-threatening temperatures than expected without climate change and heat-related deaths in people older than 65 years increased by 167% compared with the 1990s.
Last year, 48% of global land area was affected by at least 1 month of extreme drought and 151 million more people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity than annually between 1981 and 2010.
Changing precipitation patterns and rising temperatures also favoured the transmission of deadly infectious diseases in areas previously unaffected, as well as an increased incidence of sand and dust storms which contributed to a 31% increase in the number of people exposed to dangerously high concentrations of particulate matter.
Despite these escalating threats, the report reveals “a world veering away from the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1·5°C”, in which the proportion of fossil fuels in the global energy system increased for the first time in a decade in 2021 and global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2023.
“The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions compounds these dangerous health impacts, and is threatening to reverse the limited progress made so far, and put a healthy future further out of reach,” says Romanello.
“Despite this threat, we see financial resources continue to be invested in the very things that undermine our health. Repurposing the trillions of dollars being invested in, or subsidising, the fossil fuel industry every year would provide the opportunity to deliver a fair, equitable transition to clean energy and energy efficiency, and a healthier future, ultimately benefiting the global economy.”
The report highlights emerging signs of progress, such as 50 countries reporting having formally assessed their health vulnerabilities and adaptation needs and 43 reporting having a Health National Adaptation Plan in 2023.
While these measures are “insufficient to protect people’s health from climate change”, the authors say they help open new opportunities to deliver a healthy, prosperous future.
Co-author Prof. Anthony Costello, Co-Chair of theLancet Countdown, adds: “For successful reform, people’s health must be put front and centre of climate change policy to ensure the funding mechanisms protect wellbeing, reduce health inequities and maximise health gains, especially for the countries and communities that need it most.”
