Heat-related deaths rose by 63 pc since 1990s, claiming 546,000 lives yearly: The Lancet

Geneva, October 29 (IANS) Heat-related deaths have increased by 63 per cent since the 1990s, averaging 546,000 deaths yearly from 2012-21, according to an alarming report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change on Wednesday.

The report, authored by 128 multidisciplinary experts worldwide, showed how climate inaction is claiming millions of lives every year, causing widespread floods, droughts, and wildfires, and also facilitating the spread of infectious diseases across the globe.

The report, which comes ahead of the COP 30 to be held in November in Brazil, found that 12 of 20 key indicators tracking health threats have reached record levels, showing how climate inaction is costing lives, straining health systems, and undermining economies.

It warned that continued overreliance on fossil fuels and failure to adapt to a heating world are already having a devastating toll on human health.

“The climate crisis is a health crisis. Every fraction of a degree of warming costs lives and livelihoods,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care at the World Health Organization.

“This report, produced with WHO as a strategic partner, makes clear that climate inaction is killing people now in all countries. However, climate action is also the greatest health opportunity of our time. Cleaner air, healthier diets, and resilient health systems can save millions of lives now and protect current and future generations,” Farrar added.

Driven by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is increasingly claiming lives and harming people’s health worldwide. The report noted that mean annual temperatures exceeded 1·5 degrees Celsius above those of preindustrial times for the first time in 2024.

Climate change exposed an average person to 16 days of dangerous heat in 2024, with infants and older adults facing a total of over 20 heatwave days per person -- a four-fold increase over the last twenty years.

Heat exposure caused 640 billion potential labour hours to be lost in 2024, with productivity losses equivalent to $1.09 trillion. The costs of heat-related deaths among older adults reached $ 261 billion.

Further, the incidence of extreme precipitation days (which affect health and can trigger flash floods and landslides) increased in 64 per cent of the world’s land surface between 1961-90 and 2015-24.

Meanwhile, a record-breaking 61 per cent of the global land area was affected by extreme drought in 2024, which is 299 per cent above the 1950s average, further threatening food and water security, sanitation, and causing downstream economic losses.

In addition, the hotter and drier weather increased the risk of wildfires, and 2024 saw a record-high 1,54,000 deaths from wildfire smoke-derived small particulate matter (PM2·5) air pollution.

The changing climatic conditions are also affecting the risk of transmission of deadly infectious diseases. The average climate-defined transmission potential of dengue by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti increased significantly.

On the other hand, governments spent $956 billion on net fossil fuel subsidies in 2023, more than triple the annual amount pledged to support climate-vulnerable countries.

Fifteen countries spent more subsidising fossil fuels than on their entire national health budgets.

“Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels in favour of clean renewable energy and efficient energy use remains the most powerful lever to slow climate change and protect lives. At the same time, shifting to healthier, climate-friendly diets and more sustainable agricultural systems would massively cut pollution, greenhouse gases, and deforestation, potentially saving over 10 million lives a year,” said Dr Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London.