Resource

The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms

Rachael Ward
Rachael Ward • 15 November 2023

The Lancet Countdown is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its most comprehensive assessment yet.

In 2022, the Lancet Countdown warned that people's health is at the mercy of fossil fuels and stressed the transformative opportunity of jointly tackling the concurrent climate change, energy, cost-of-living, and health crises for human health and wellbeing. This year's report finds few signs of such progress. At the current 10-year mean heating of 1·14°C above pre-industrial levels, climate change is increasingly impacting the health and survival of people worldwide, and projections show these risks could worsen steeply with further inaction. However, with health matters gaining prominence in climate change negotiations, this report highlights new opportunities to deliver health-promoting climate change action and a safe and thriving future for all.

Read the full report here.

Resource author(s)
Marina Romanello, Claudia di Napoli, Carole Green, Harry Kennard, Pete Lampard, Daniel Scamman, et al.
Resource publishing organisation(s) or journal
The Lancet
Resource publication date
November 2023

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