Climate change should be formally declared 'global health emergency', new study suggests

A new report has urged international governments to declare climate change a global health emergency. Health harms from climate change have grown faster in the decade since countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 than in the decade before, according to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.Annual average heat-related deaths rose by nearly 36 per cent globally after the Paris Agreement was introduced, its findings suggest.In 2023 alone, heat was linked to a record 710,000 deaths, with more than 70 per cent of that toll attributable to human-caused climate change, the researchers found. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say More than 140 experts from more than 30 countries worked on the paper, led by University College London (UCL) and produced in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO).Published ahead of the start of UN climate summit Cop31 next month, the paper tracks 54 "indicators" that cover how health interacts with areas such as heat, air quality, climate suitability for infectious disease transmission and energy systems.According to the findings, extreme drought affected nearly 52 per cent of the world’s land for at least a month in 2025, marking the second-highest level on record.Using new satellite-based analysis, the researchers also found that 80 per cent of the world’s land has seen significant shifts in dry and wet groundwater storage since 2003, with widespread impacts on food security and sanitation.Clean energy investment reached a record in 2025 and was almost double what was invested in fossil fuels, the report said, adding that cleaner air prevented an estimated 323,000 deaths a year in at least 77 countries where air pollution from fossil fuels has fallen since 2016.But the researchers noted that fossil fuels still supply more than 80 per cent of the world’s energy, producing planet-heating emissions that are driving the climate crisis.The UN recently warned that the world will overshoot the key climate threshold of 1.5C warming above pre-industrial levels, beyond which extreme weather events become more intense and frequent, and the risk of passing irreversible tipping points accelerates.The researchers found that the 100 largest oil and gas companies in the world are on track to exceed production levels compatible with limiting warming to 1.5C by 150 per cent by 2040, up from 138 per cent last year.LATEST DEVELOPMENTSOver 50,000 people died of heat-related causes across Europe in 'deadliest Summer on record''It is NOT the end of the world!' Bjorn Lomborg on climate change, UK heatwaves and adaptationsAndy Burnham set to announce plans for new North Sea oil and gas drilling in blow to Ed MilibandExecutive Director of the Lancet Countdown, Professor Marina Romanello, said: "A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world’s response to them, and in many cases even accelerating."Real progress has been made in clean energy, health system readiness, and health-protective regulation, all of which are already delivering health benefits to local communities."However, progress has been too slow, too small, and isn’t reaching those who need it most."That is why we are calling for climate change to be formally recognised as a global health emergency, with health placed at the centre of every climate decision."She added: "These numbers point to a clear emergency."The rate of increase in many climate-related health threats is accelerating, while heat deaths linked to climate change have reached a record high, and the economic toll is battering vulnerable sectors and communities the hardest."The risks become even more profound when you consider how different hazards interact and compound. At the same time, drought is spreading, and the world is swinging to water extremes, some drying out, while others are flooding."This isn’t a gradual worsening; it’s a step change that must be recognised as the global health emergency it is." Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter