By Abbas Nazil
Climate change should be declared a global health emergency as rising temperatures and extreme weather events continue to cause millions of deaths worldwide, according to a new report by the medical journal The Lancet.
The report, published on Wednesday ahead of the COP31 climate summit scheduled for November, estimated that heat-related deaths reached a record 710,000 in 2023, with more than 70 per cent of the toll linked to human-caused climate change.
The 10th edition of the Lancet Countdown report brought together 146 researchers from 30 countries to assess the growing effects of climate change on global public health.
Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown research project, said approximately three million heat-related deaths were recorded globally between 2016 and 2023, highlighting the escalating health consequences of global warming.
She said 68 per cent of the deaths during the eight-year period were directly attributable to climate change, stressing the need for governments to treat the crisis as an urgent public health priority.
Romanello called for an integrated and long-term response that would strengthen countries’ resilience, improve their capacity to manage climate-related threats and prevent repeated health emergencies.
The researchers explained that they estimated climate-related deaths by comparing recorded heat fatalities with the number that would have occurred without human-induced warming.
Professor Ollie Jay of the University of Sydney said climate change had increased the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, while worsening drought conditions across the world.
The report also highlighted the economic consequences of rising temperatures, estimating that reduced worker productivity had cost the global economy more than $1 trillion annually over the past three years.
Africa and Southeast Asia were among the hardest-hit regions, losing an estimated 3.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of their gross domestic product respectively.
In comparison, Europe lost approximately 0.2 per cent of its GDP, while the Americas recorded losses equivalent to 1.5 per cent.
Despite the growing threats, the report identified progress in climate adaptation and clean energy investment.
Since 2016, 56 of the World Health Organisation’s 194 member states have adapted their health and early-warning systems to better anticipate extreme weather events.
Investment in clean energy reached $2.1 trillion in 2025, twice the amount invested in fossil fuels, although fossil fuels still accounted for about 80 per cent of global energy consumption.
The report attributed approximately 2.73 million deaths annually to air pollution associated with fossil fuels.
However, declining fossil-fuel-related air pollution in at least 77 countries has helped prevent an estimated 323,000 deaths since 2016.
Funding for climate-related medical research also increased sevenfold to $316 million in 2024, but 84 per cent of the funding went to researchers in wealthy countries, despite developing nations facing some of the greatest climate-related health risks.
Romanello warned that limited access to essential data, particularly in the United States, had complicated the researchers’ work, including efforts to monitor fossil fuel subsidies.
She also expressed concern that geopolitical instability had pushed climate change and its health consequences further down the international agenda over the past two years.
The researchers warned that continued inaction would intensify the health and economic consequences of global warming, reinforcing calls for coordinated international action to protect vulnerable populations and strengthen public health systems.
