Heat-related deaths increased by 68 percent between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, while vulnerable populations—seniors and children under one year old—were exposed to 3.7 billion more heat days in 2021 than annually in 1986– 2005. , according to a worldwide report. The report, produced by Lancet Countdown, focuses on the health impacts of climate change amid the health, social and economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global energy and cost-of-living crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and continued over-reliance on fossil fuels.
While floods in Australia, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and other countries claimed thousands of lives, drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and caused economic losses in the billions of dollars, forest fires caused destruction in countries such as Greece, Algeria, Italy, Spain. and record temperatures were recorded in many countries, according to the report. According to the report, extreme weather events caused US$253 billion in damages in 2021, particularly burdening people in low Human Development Index (HDI) countries, where almost none of the losses were insured.
Food security was affected by climate change as warmer temperatures directly threatened crop yields, with the growing season for maize nine days shorter on average in 2020 and the growing season for winter and spring wheat six days shorter globally than in 1981-2010. Health systems are the first line of defense in an atmosphere where health impacts from climate change are worsening and compounding other co-existing crises. However, even as the need for health care grows, health systems are weakened by the effects of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
Urgent action is therefore needed to strengthen the resilience of the health system to prevent the rapidly escalating loss of life and suffering in a changing climate. In 2022, on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries agreed to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change and its harmful effects on human health and well-being. However, little meaningful action followed, according to the Lancet report.
Dependence on fossil fuels not only undermines global health through increased climate change impacts, but also directly affects human health and well-being through volatile and unpredictable fossil fuel markets, fragile supply chains, and geopolitical conflicts. In low HDI countries, in 2020 only 1.4 percent of their electricity came from modern renewable sources, i.e. wind and solar power. An estimated 59 percent of healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries still lack access to the reliable electricity they need. provide basic care.
Oil and gas companies, on the other hand, the report says, are posting record profits even as their production strategies continue to undermine people’s lives and well-being. The world’s biggest oil and gas companies exceeded their share of emissions equivalent to 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by 37 percent in 2030 and 103 percent in 2040 as of February 2022, continuing to undermine decarbonization efforts, it said.
Worse, governments continue to incentivize the production and consumption of fossil fuels, the report says. At the same time, countries have failed to meet their commitment to mobilize a significantly lower $100 billion per year by 2020, as agreed in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, to support climate action in “developing countries,” and climate efforts are being undermined by a deep lack of funding. he said.
After 30 years of UNFCCC negotiations, the Lancet Countdown indicators show that countries and societies continue to make decisions that threaten the health and survival of people in all parts of the world. The report says that at this critical juncture, an immediate response focused on health can still ensure a future in which the world’s population not only survives, but also thrives. Assessing the health impacts of climate action, the Lancet Countdown released this report to help countries realize their ambition to make the Paris Agreement “the most important public health agreement of the century”.
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