Climate health harms outpace action, prompting calls for global health emergency
The 2026 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change finds that many of the health risks and harms of climate change grew faster in the decade since the Paris Agreement was introduced (2016–2025) than in the decade before it (2006–2015).
The Lancet Countdown's 2026 Report reveals that climate change's health impacts are worsening faster than global efforts to address it. While clean energy investment, health system readiness and health-protective legislation have delivered health benefits, progress has been inadequate to counterbalance the escalating harm from fossil fuel-driven climate change.
With heat now responsible for an estimated 540,800 deaths annually (68% due to climate change) and $1.07 trillion in lost potential global income, experts are calling for climate change to be recognized as a global health emergency. Heat-related deaths have surged since 2006-2015, exceeding those from malaria or HIV in 2023 alone.
Southeast Asia and Africa bear the brunt of economic losses, with losses equivalent to 3.9% and 3.2% of GDP respectively. The report highlights that drought has expanded more than 700% faster than in the previous decade, affecting more than 80% of the world's land and threatening crops, food supplies and sanitation. The report's authors urge immediate action, emphasizing that health must be integrated into climate policies to prevent further harm.
Written by urgent.news from Phys.org's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
