A WHO-backed report warns that climate inaction is worsening global health, with rising deaths, hunger, and economic losses worldwide.

Continued reliance on fossil fuels and inadequate adaptation to global warming are already taking a devastating toll on human health, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The 2025 report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, produced in collaboration with WHO, reveals that 12 of 20 key indicators tracking climate-related health threats have reached record levels. The findings highlight how the lack of climate action is costing lives, straining health systems, and weakening economies.

The report shows that the rate of heat-related mortality has risen by 23 percent since the 1990s, with an estimated 546,000 deaths per year attributed to heat exposure. At the same time, extreme weather events in 2023 pushed an additional 124 million people into food insecurity.

The economic toll has been equally severe, with heat exposure leading to productivity losses valued at 1.09 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, the report said.

“The climate crisis is a health crisis. Every fraction of a degree of warming costs lives and livelihoods,” said Jeremy Farrar, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care.

Source: Xinhua News Agency