Summary/Abstract
The Lancet Countdown is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its most comprehensive assessment yet.
The Lancet Countdown publishes annual updates of over 40 indicators across five key areas:
- The health impacts, exposures and vulnerabilities of climate change
- Adaptation, planning and resilience for health
- Mitigation actions and their health co-benefits
- Economic and financial aspects of the interaction between climate change and health
- Public and political engagement in climate change and health
To track these five key areas, the authors draw on experts from a range of disciplines, including health and epidemiology, climate science, engineering, agriculture, transports, economy, and social and political sciences.
In 2022, the Lancet Countdown warned that people’s health is at the mercy of fossil fuels and stressed the transformative opportunity of jointly tackling the concurrent climate change, energy, cost-of-living, and health crises for human health and wellbeing. This year’s report finds few signs of such progress. At the current 10-year mean heating of 1.14°C above preindustrial levels, climate change is increasingly impacting the health and survival of people worldwide, and projections show these risks could worsen steeply with further inaction. However, with health matters gaining prominence in climate change negotiations, this report highlights new opportunities to deliver health-promoting climate change action and a safe and thriving future for all.