PARIS: Climate change is ravaging the health of people around the world and policy failures are leading to “millions” of avoidable deaths each year, an international team of experts said Wednesday.
Opportunities for a “just” climate transition were still on the table but remained “largely untapped,” according to the Lancet’s Countdown, a major annual study tracking the health impacts of climate change.
The report put figures on some of the most deadly consequences: 546,000 people died each year between 2012 and 2021 because of exposure to heat, a massive increase on figures from the 1990s; and toxic fumes from wildfires killed a record 154,000 last year.
The health journal’s report, released shortly before the UN COP30 climate talks in Brazil, called for increased investment in zero-carbon energy and climate-resilient infrastructure, and better planning for health challenges.
The authors were fiercely critical of US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull his country away from international aid programs and climate initiatives — with his policies then parroted by some other countries.
