1129. The Lancet Countdown 2024

Despite the expectations of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world is now facing the risk of failing to meet the goal of limiting the global average temperature to 1.5°C. In 2023, the average annual temperature reached a record high of 1.45°C above the pre-industrial baseline, and extreme climate is threatening many lives and livelihoods around the world.

The Lancet Countdown 2024 Report reveals the most worrying findings to date through monitoring over the past eight years.

In 2023, the number of heatstroke deaths among people aged 65 and over increased by 167% compared to 1990-99, a record high. This is equivalent to a double increase compared to the case where there was no warming.

Over the past decade, the average number of days of precipitation per year has increased in 61.3% of the world's land area compared to the 1961-1990 baseline. Meanwhile, due to changing precipitation patterns and rising temperatures, 48% of the world's land area was affected by extreme drought for at least one month in 2023.

The increasing frequency of heatwaves and droughts has led to a total of 151 million people in 124 countries experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity, increasing the risk of malnutrition and hunger.

Despite these growing threats, governments and businesses continue to rely on fossil fuels, further endangering people's health and survival. Global energy-related emissions hit a record high in 2023. In addition to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, around 182 million hectares of forests were lost between 2016 and 2022, reducing the world's natural ability to store carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Coordinated, structural, and sustained changes are needed across social systems, including energy, transport, food, agriculture and healthcare, to avoid the most severe health impacts of climate change.

Reference
The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action, The Lancet (2024). https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)0182…

Contributor, IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program