Climate Inaction Costs Millions of Lives Annually, Warns Report

Climate Inaction Costs Millions of Lives Annually, Warns Report
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The failure to address the climate crisis is now a global public health emergency, with the costs measured in millions of lives annually, according to a sweeping new report cited by Earth.com.

The report details staggering health impacts. Extreme heat alone is responsible for, on average, more than half a million deaths annually worldwide, and the rate of heat-related mortality has risen by 23% since the 1990s.

In 2024, smoke from wildfires was linked to 154,000 deaths globally, largely due to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). Furthermore, the transmission potential for mosquito-borne diseases like dengue has climbed by up to 49% since the 1950s as warming expands the range of carrier mosquitoes. Outdoor pollution from burning fossil fuels was associated with an estimated 2.52 million deaths in 2022, and polluting household fuels added 2.3 million more. The study emphasizes that rapidly phasing out fossil fuels remains the most powerful lever to protect lives, noting that shifts away from coal between 2010 and 2022 alone prevented roughly 160,000 premature deaths each year.