Overview
- The Lancet Countdown report, released Wednesday, concludes that health impacts from climate change have grown faster since the 2015 Paris Agreement and are accelerating across multiple measures.
- Researchers estimate nearly 3 million deaths linked to climate effects from 2016 through 2023, with a record 710,000 heat-related fatalities in 2023 and about 70% of those deaths attributed to human-caused warming.
- The study finds extreme drought and very heavy rainfall have surged, with the pace of land hit by extreme drought rising about 700% between 2016 and 2025 compared with the prior decade, raising risks for water, food and sanitation.
- Clean-energy investment hit a record $2.1 trillion in 2025 and helped reduce air-pollution deaths in some countries, but fossil fuels still supply more than 80% of global energy and are linked to roughly 2.7 million pollution deaths each year.
- Authors call for WHO and UN-led coordination, pooled climate-health data, and increased grant and low-interest financing for vulnerable countries, a push intended to shape negotiations at the upcoming COP31 climate summit.