Climate change needs to be formally recognised as a global health emergency, with the health risks and harms associated with climate change accelerating over the past decade, the 10th indicator report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change has said.
The 2026 edition of the report, led by University College London and produced with the World Health Organization, tracked 54 indicators covering the health impacts of climate change and the health effects of climate action. All told, the report brought together 146 researchers from more than 100 institutions across more than 30 countries.
As the authors noted, while clean energy investment, health system leadership, health-protecting legislation and growing scientific evidence have helped deliver measurable gains, this has not been enough to offset the ‘rapidly growing harm’ from fossil-fuel-driven climate change.
As such, they are urging for authorities to formally recognise climate change as a global health emergency, and for policies and funding priorities to be put in place to address this.
‘Unambiguous findings’
“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,” commented Professor Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown, based at University College London.
“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.”
Heat impact
As the report noted, heat-related deaths have increased significantly over the past decade – while between 2016 and 2023, heat was associated with an average of 540,800 deaths a year, in 2023, this rose to an estimated 710,000 deaths, of which 71.5% were attributed to climate change.
Labour productivity has also suffered, with heat causing around $1.07 trillion in potential income losses last year, equivalent to 0.91% of global economic output. The agriculture and construction sectors accounted for 38% and 29% respectively of these losses.
Elsewhere, extended periods of drought and changing water patterns are affecting food production and sanitation, with extreme drought affecting more than half (51.8%) of the world’s land for at least one month in 2025. This was the second-highest level ever recorded.
Extreme rainfall is also becoming more common, affecting 17.2% of global land, on average, between 2016 and 2025, up from 14.8% the previous decade, and increasing the risk of floods, landslides and waterborne disease.
‘A clear emergency’
“These numbers point to a clear emergency,” Professor Romanello added. “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.
“This isn’t a gradual worsening; it’s a step change that must be recognised as the global health emergency it is.” Read more here and here.
