Researchers urge global health emergency status for climate change as heat deaths mount

A new report urges governments to declare climate change a global health emergency following three million heat-related deaths worldwide between 2016 and 2023. Published by the medical journal The Lancet ahead of the COP 31 climate summit in November, the report was put together by 146 researchers from 30 countries. The year 2023 saw a record 710,000 heat-related deaths, with over 70 percent of that total linked directly to human-caused global warming. Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown project, compared the eight-year death toll to the entire population of Wales being wiped out by heat. The report notes that 68 percent of those deaths are directly tied to climate change. To calculate these figures, researchers gathered official heat death numbers and subtracted those that would have happened without warming, according to Professor Ollie Jay of the University of Sydney. Jay also noted that last year an extreme drought hit more than half the world's land surface for at least a month. Warming temperatures have also hurt worker productivity, costing the world economy over one trillion dollars per year over the past three years. Southeast Asia and Africa are the hardest-hit regions, losing 3.9 percent and 3.2 percent of their GDP respectively, compared to 0.2 percent in Europe and 1.5 percent in the Americas. At the same time, clean energy investments hit $2.1 trillion in 2025, which is double the amount spent on fossil fuels. Even so, fossil fuels still make up 80 percent of global energy, driving air pollution that causes 2.73 million deaths annually. On the positive side, roughly 323,000 deaths have been avoided in at least 77 countries where air pollution from fossil fuels dropped since 2016. Funding for climate-related medical research grew sevenfold to reach $316 million in 2024, but 84 percent of those funds go to wealthy nations even though poor countries suffer the most. Romanello also pointed out that researchers struggled this year due to missing data from the United States, such as hidden fossil fuel subsidies, while global political tensions have pushed warming concerns into the background.

Context

Global climate reports like the Lancet Countdown regularly assess how rising temperatures affect human health, economies, and energy use. These findings help delegates prepare for annual international climate summits where countries discuss emission targets and green energy funding. The comparison between clean energy spending and fossil fuel reliance highlights the slow transition away from carbon-heavy power sources worldwide.