Researchers call for climate change to be declared a global health emergency
publishers 85articles 121first reported 7 Oct, 01:19 UTCdeveloping since 7 Oct · 25 editions
Nearly 150 researchers from more than 100 institutions in over 30 countries are calling for climate change to be formally recognized as a global health emergency, saying its health effects have accelerated since the Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016.
The 2026 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, produced in collaboration with the World Health Organization, found that annual average heat-related deaths rose by nearly 36% in recent decades. Heat was linked to a record 710,000 deaths in 2023, with more than 70% attributed to human-caused climate change. Climate-driven heat deaths totaled nearly 3 million between 2016 and 2023.
The report also found that extreme drought affected nearly 52% of global land for at least one month in 2025, while shifting wet and dry conditions have affected 80% of land since 2003. Heat eliminated 573 billion potential working hours in 2025 and cost an estimated $1.07 trillion in potential income, with agricultural workers and vulnerable economies hit hardest.
The authors urged the WHO and United Nations to issue an emergency declaration and put health at the center of climate and funding decisions. They also proposed ending new fossil-fuel exploration, phasing out coal-fired power by 2035 and promoting predominantly plant-based diets.
Clean-energy investment reached a record $2.1 trillion in 2025, almost twice fossil-fuel investment, but fossil fuels still supplied more than 80% of global energy, according to the report.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 7 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 516 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 85
- Source articles
- 121
- Given to the writer
- 8, 7 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 516 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
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