The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action

Marina Romanello*, Maria Walawender, Shih-Che Hsu, Annalyse Moskeland, Yasna Palmeiro-Silva, Daniel Scamman, Zakari Ali, Nadia Ameli, Denitsa Angelova, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Sara Basart, Jessica Beagley, Paul J. Beggs, Luciana Blanco-Villafuerte, Wenjia Cai, Max Callaghan, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Jonathan D Chambers, Victoria Chicmana-Zapata, Lingzhi ChuTroy J. Cross, Kim R. van Daalen, Carole Dalin, Niheer Dasandi, Shouro Dasgupta, Michael Davies, Robert Dubrow, Matthew J Eckelman, James D Ford, Chris Freyberg, Olga Gasparyan, Georgiana Gordon-Strachan, Michael Grubb, Samuel H. Gunther, Ian Hamilton, Yun Hang, Risto Hänninen, Stella Hartinger, Kehan He, Julian Heidecke, Jeremy J. Hess, Louis Jamart, Slava Jankin, Harshavardhan Jatkar, Ollie Jay, Ilan Kelman, Harry Kennard, Gregor Kiesewetter, Patrick Kinney, Dominic Kniveton, Rostislav Kouznetsov, Pete Lampard, Jason K. W. Lee, Bruno Lemke, Bo Li, Yang Liu, Zhao Liu, Alba Llabrés-Brustenga, Melissa Lott, Rachel Lowe, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza, Mark Maslin, Lucy McAllister, Celia McMichael, Zhifu Mi, James Milner, Kelton Minor, Jan Minx, Nahid Mohajeri, Natalie C. Momen, Maziar Moradi-Lakeh, Karyn Morrisey, Simon Munzert, Kris A. Murray, Nick Obradovich, Megan B. O'Hare, Camile Oliveira, Tadj Oreszczyn, Matthias Otto, Fereidoon Owfi, Olivia L Pearman, Frank Pega, Andrew J Perishing, Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes, Jamie Ponmattam, Mahnaz Rabbaniha, Jamie Rickman, Elizabeth Robinson, Joacim Rocklöv, David Rojas-Rueda, Renee N. Salas, Jan C. Semenza, Jodi D. Sherman, Joy Shumake-Guillemot, Pratik Singh, Henrik Sjödin, Jessica Slater, Mikhail Sofiev, Cecilia Sorensen, Marco Springmann, Zélie Stalhandske, Jennifer D. Stowell, Meisam Tabatabaei, Jonathon Taylor, Daniel Tong, Cathryn Tonne, Marina Treskova, Joaquin A. Trinanes, Andreas Uppstu, Fabian Wagner, Laura Warnecke, Hannah Whitcombe, Peng Xian, Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo, Chi Zhang, Ran Zhang, Shihui Zhang, Ying Zhang, Qiao Zhu, Peng Gong, Hugh Montgomery, Anthony Costello

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Executive summary:
Despite the initial hope inspired by the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world is now dangerously close to breaching its target of limiting global multiyear mean heating to 1·5°C. Annual mean surface temperature reached a record high of 1·45°C above the pre-industrial baseline in 2023, and new temperature highs were recorded throughout 2024. The resulting climatic extremes are increasingly claiming lives and livelihoods worldwide.

The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established the same year the Paris Agreement entered into force, to monitor the health impacts and opportunities of the world’s response to this landmark agreement. Supported through strategic core funding from Wellcome, the collaboration brings together over 300 multidisciplinary researchers and health professionals from around the world to take stock annually of the evolving links between health and climate change at global, regional, and national levels.

The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown, building on the expertise of 122 leading researchers from UN agencies and academic institutions worldwide, reveals the most concerning findings yet in the collaboration’s 8 years of monitoring.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1847-1896
Number of pages50
JournalThe Lancet
Volume404
Issue number10465
Early online date30 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Nov 2024

Cite this