2026 Lancet Countdown Report: Climate change increases health threat

Following a decade since the Paris Agreement entered into force, the 2026 Lancet Countdown Report revealed that climate-related health harms are growing faster than global response efforts. Led by University College London and in partnership with the World Health Organization, the report states that in the years following the Paris Agreement, annual average heat-related deaths increased by approximately 36 percent compared to the previous decade.

Led by University College London, in collaboration with international institutions and the World Health Organization, the 2026 Lancet Countdown Report examines the link between climate change and human health through 54 indicators. The report notes that in 2023 alone, extreme heat was associated with a record 710,000 deaths globally, with more than 70 percent of this burden driven by human-induced climate change. It also highlights worsening drought conditions, an increase in exposure rates to hydrological extremes, and economic losses linked to temperature.

The report also noted some positive developments; in 2025, global clean energy investments broke records to reach $2.1 trillion. While it is estimated that many countries reducing fossil fuel-related air pollution protect thousands of people from premature death every year, progress in climate-resilient health systems, such as national health adaptation plans and early warning systems, was also recorded. Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change, Air Quality, and Energy and Health Unit at the World Health Organization, stated that climate change is harming health in every region of the world and called for health to be placed at the center of climate policies. The authors of the report called for climate change to be officially recognized as a global health emergency.