Climate change: The million-life, trillion-dollar health crisis

The 2025 report can be accessed here. 

“This year’s health stocktake paints a bleak and undeniable picture of the devastating health harms reaching all corners of the world – with record-breaking threats to health from heat, extreme weather events, and wildfire smoke killing millions. The destruction to lives and livelihoods will continue to escalate until we end our fossil fuel addiction and dramatically up our game to adapt,” warned Dr Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London. 

She added, “We already have the solutions at hand to avoid a climate catastrophe – and communities and local governments around the world are proving that progress is possible. From clean energy growth to city adaptation, action is underway and delivering real health benefits – but we must keep up the momentum. Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels remains the most powerful lever to slow climate change and protect lives. At the same time, shifting to healthier, climate-friendly diets and more sustainable agricultural systems would massively cut pollution, greenhouse gases and deforestation, potentially saving over ten million lives a year.”