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Health threats of climate change reach record-breaking levels
30 October 2024
People around the world are facing record-breaking health threats because of climate inaction, including continued investment in fossil fuels and lagging funding for action to protect health, finds the latest Lancet Countdown report led by UCL researchers.
The 2024 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reveals that people in every country face record-breaking threats to health and survival from the rapidly changing climate, with 10 of 15 indicators tracking health threats reaching concerning new levels.
Publishing annually in The Lancet, with strategic and financial support from Wellcome, The Lancet Countdown is hosted by UCL and works with almost 300 leading researchers from around the world to track and understand the evolving links between climate change and people’s health.
Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown, Dr Marina Romanello (UCL Institute for Global Health) said: “This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet in our eight years of monitoring.
“Once again, last year broke climate change records – with extreme heat waves, deadly weather events, and devastating wildfires affecting people around the world.
“No individual or economy on the planet is immune from the health threats of climate change. The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions compounds these dangerous health impacts and is threatening to reverse the limited progress made so far and put a healthy future further out of reach.”
As a result, experts are calling for trillions of dollars spent on fossil fuels to be redirected towards protecting people’s health, lives and livelihoods.
Read full story and key findings of the report on UCL News
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