Climate change must be declared a ‘global health emergency’, says Lancet study

A Lancet study reports that climate change must be declared a global health emergency to influence government policies, following three million heat-related deaths between 2016 and 2023. The 10th edition of the Lancet Countdown report, which involved 146 researchers from 30 countries, found that 68% of these deaths were directly caused by climate change.

Executive director Marina Romanello emphasized that the global health emergency due to climate change should have an integrated approach to prevent future emergencies. The report also highlighted the economic cost, with warming reducing worker productivity and costing the global economy over a trillion dollars annually. Southeast Asia and Africa suffered the most, losing 3.9% and 3.2% of GDP, respectively.

Despite progress, such as 56 member states adapting health systems to extreme events and double the investment in clean energy compared to fossil fuels, fossil fuels still dominate global energy production, causing air pollution and resulting in 2.73 million deaths per year. However, climate-related medical research funding has increased sevenfold to $316 million in 2024, but 84% of these funds go to researchers in wealthy nations, leaving the most affected countries underfunded.