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The UK is increasingly exposed to extreme heat that threatens health

Sakege October 30, 2024

Experts warn that people in the UK are increasingly exposed to dangerous extreme heat, as global health threats from climate change reach record levels.

A Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report found there is an increased risk of heat-related illness and mortality in the UK, with nine additional deaths per 100,000 people on average in the period 2013-2022.

In 2023, people around the world were exposed to an average of 50 more days of health-threatening temperatures than would be expected without climate change. The extreme drought affected 48% of the global land area, according to the report.

Dr Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London, said the findings were the most worrying in the report’s eight years.

He said: “No individual or economy on the planet is immune to the health threats posed by climate change.

“The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record greenhouse gas emissions compound these dangerous health impacts and threaten to reverse the limited progress made so far and put a healthy future even further out of reach.”

The report found that 10 of 15 indicators tracking climate change threats to health have reached new record levels.

Its authors accuse governments and companies of continuing to fuel the fire by investing in fossil fuels, and say money spent financing oil, gas and coal should be redirected toward the shift toward clean economies.

The increased frequency of heat waves and droughts around the world was associated with 151 million more people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity than each year between 1981 and 2010.

At the same time, 61% of the world’s land area experienced an increase in extreme storms in the last decade, increasing the risk of flooding, infectious diseases and water pollution, while the risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue has increased.

The report also argues that unhealthy and unsustainable diets are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and affecting health, and a shift towards more balanced diets would reduce deaths and address climate change.