‘Driven by human-caused GHG, climate change is increasingly claiming lives’ (Lancet Countdown 2025’)

546 000 deaths for the year 2024 globally were directly linked to climate change, as they resulted from more frequent heat days, said the Lancet Countdown, who stated that "the health threats of climate change have reached unprecedented levels", published on 29/10/2025, ahead of COP30, which will take place from 10 to 21/11/2025 in Belém (Brazil).

The report is relying on 20 indicators, which all revealed the growing health threats of climate change. Overall, 12 have set new records in the latest year: heat-related mortality is on top, with an increase around 63% from 2012 to 2021, compared to the 1990's, causing an estimated average 546 000 deaths annually.

The report assessed this is directly the result of the climate change, as 16 of the 19 life-threatening heatwave days that people were exposed to annually between 2020 to 2024 would not have occurred without it.
Additionally, the report underlines that the hotter and drier weather is also increasing the risk of wildfires, which led to an increase of small particulate matter (PM2·5) air pollution. In this regard, 2024 had also a…